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Student–Faculty Interaction and Discrimination from Faculty in STEM: The Link with Retention

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Abstract

Previous studies have documented student–faculty interaction in STEM, but fewer studies have specifically studied negative forms of interaction such as discrimination from faculty. Using a sample of 562 STEM undergraduates from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen, we use hierarchical generalized linear modeling to investigate various types of student–faculty interaction in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) and in particular, the link between discrimination from faculty and retention in STEM. While Black students interacted more frequently with faculty, they were also most likely to report experiencing racial/ethnic discrimination. Overall, female, Black, and Latinx students were more likely to leave STEM by the fourth year of college than male, White, and Asian American peers. Feeling that professors made a student feel uncomfortable due to race/ethnicity was negatively linked with STEM retention. None of the traditional forms of student–faculty interaction (i.e., non-discriminatory) predicted retention. Variation in patterns by race, gender, and income are discussed, as well as implications for research, policy, and practice.

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Notes

  1. Retention refers to the actions institutions take to promote the return of students from semester to semester, and to enhance the likelihood of students’ graduation. In contrast to retention, persistence, refers to the actions students take to continue their educational pursuits until degree completion. In this manuscript we focus on retention to place the responsibility of student success on the institution.

  2. In this study, we utilized the definition of STEM used by Department of Commerce (DOC) to identify STEM majors in our data. Then, based on the categorization of STEM majors by Sax et al. (2015), we grouped the STEM majors into five major categories (disciplines) for data analysis. The five categories and specific majors included in each category are as follows: Biological Sciences (Bio-chemistry, Biological Basis of Behavior, Biology); Computer Science (Computer Science); Engineering (Bio-engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Other Engineering); Mathematics/Statistics (Math, Actuarial Science); Physical Sciences (Chemistry, Material Science, Physics, Other Physical Science).

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1660914.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Maryland, College Park, USA

    Julie J. Park, Cinthya Salazar & Shannon Hayes

  2. Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, USA

    Young K. Kim

  3. University of Maryland, 3214-B Benjamin Building, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Julie J. Park

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  1. Julie J. Park
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Table 6 Variable definitions, coding schemes, and descriptive statistics
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Park, J.J., Kim, Y.K., Salazar, C. et al. Student–Faculty Interaction and Discrimination from Faculty in STEM: The Link with Retention. Res High Educ 61, 330–356 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-019-09564-w

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