Student-faculty interaction in research universities: Differences by student gender, race, social class, and first-generation status

Abstract

This study examined whether the effects of student-faculty interaction on a range of student outcomes-i.e., college GPA, degree aspiration, integration, critical thinking and communication, cultural appreciation and social awareness, and satisfaction with college experience-vary by student gender, race, social class, and first-generation status. The study utilized data on 58,281 students who participated in the 2006 University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES). The findings reveal differences in the frequency of student-faculty interaction across student gender, race, social class and first-generation status, and differences in the effects of student-faculty interaction (i.e., conditional effects) that depended on each of these factors except first-generation status. The findings provide implications for educational practice on how to maximize the educational efficacy of student-faculty interaction by minimizing the gender, race, social class, and first-generation differences associated with it.