Beyond Traditional Measures of STEM Success: Long-Term Predictors of Social Agency and Conducting Research for Social Change

Despite the importance of preparing socially responsible graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to address the current state of poverty and inequality, very few studies in higher education have examined the development of STEM students’ outcomes critical to promoting a more equitable society, typically focusing on the impact of one program or course. To address this gap in the literature, this study used frameworks of undergraduate socialization as well as social justice perspectives in STEM education to examine the undergraduate experiences and institutional contexts that predict STEM bachelor’s degree recipients’ development of two democratic educational outcomes seven years after college entry: social agency and values toward conducting research that will have a meaningful impact on underserved communities. The study utilized multilevel modeling on a national longitudinal sample of 6341 STEM bachelor’s degree recipients across 271 institutions. Longitudinal student data from the 2004 Cooperative Institutional Research Program’s (CIRP) Freshman Survey and 2011 Post-Baccalaureate Survey were merged with institutional data from the Integrated Postsecondary Educational Data System and CIRP Faculty Surveys. Various undergraduate socialization experiences and institutional contexts were found to predict STEM bachelor’s degree recipients’ democratic educational outcomes, including academic majors, participation in student organizations and research, experiences with faculty, and peer and STEM faculty normative contexts. Implications of the findings for research, policy, and practice are discussed.     

Perspectives on Socialization Factors in University Students in the People's Republic of China and the United States

This paper focuses on the socialization factors of undergraduate students that lead to the readiness for education.Factors such as parental socialization,student background characteristics,pre college normative pressures and influences,and non college refernce groups will be helpful in relating to reality of undergraduate students.This information will help both faculty and administrators meet the needs of students by understanding the processes of development and change in their college years.     

The Influences of Faculty on Undergraduate Student Participation in Research and Creative Activities

Using data collected from surveys of college juniors and seniors and faculty members in related academic departments, this study examined whether faculty teaching and research orientations, as well as faculty external funding, had any impact on undergraduate student participation in research and creative activities. The results of the study indicated that faculty research orientation and external funding were indeed positively related to student participation in research activities. However, faculty members’ teaching orientation was not significant. Further analyses indicated that faculty teaching and research orientations had different impacts on a range of research and creative activities by undergraduate students. The findings from this study provide insight on ways of improving college teaching and learning as well as informing the development of institutional academic policies related to faculty and undergraduate education. Shouping Hu is Associate Professor of Higher Education at Florida State University. He received his M.S. degree in Economics and Ph.D. in Higher Education from Indiana University. His research and scholarship focus on college access and success, student engagement, and higher education policy. Kathyrine Scheuch is the Deputy Director of Research and Evaluation in the Division of Community Colleges, Florida Department of Education. She received her Ed.D. in Higher Education from Florida State University. Her research interests include undergraduate research activities and minority student issues. Joy Gaston Gayles is Associate Professor of Higher Education at North Carolina State University. She received her Ph.D. in Higher Education from Ohio State University. Her research interests include the college student experience and its impact on student development and learning.     

Faculty and peer influences on academic integrity: college cheating in Romania

The purpose of this research was to examine student perceptions of academic integrity among faculty and peers at a sample of public universities in Romania. The study explores the factors that influence academic dishonesty among college students and compares the relative importance of faculty influences and peer influences on students’ intent to cheat. The study differs from the existing literature on academic integrity in that it examines the degree to which student cheating in college is influenced by the quality and relevance of instruction and the academic dishonesty of instructors and peers.     

Impacts of campus experiences and parental socialization on undergraduates' career choices

The purpose of this study is to assess the impacts of selected aspects of the collegiate experience on changes in undergraduates' occupational preferences and personal goals. It focuses on two general aspects of the undergraduate student's participation in a 4-year college or university environment — the social structure, particularly its normative aspect, as defined by the orientations of faculty and students toward the purposes of a college education; and the individual student's perceptions of the institution's capacity for facilitating the attainment of personal goals. The latter aspect of the college experience is reflected in such things as satisfaction with college, the individual's sense of social integration into the campus environment, and assessments of the extent to which experiences within a particular college have contributed to the attainment of desired personal ends (e.g., occupational training and personal growth). A departure from much of the existing research on college impact is that close attention is paid to the concomitant influences of parental socialization that are present throughout the student's college days. Specific aspects of parental socialization processes are considered, notably those reflected in modes of parent-child relationships and family life-style that contribute to adult development. An important aim of the research is to investigate the extent to which college effects on students' occupational orientations and preferences are mediated by parent-child relationships maintained, in many instances, through continued contacts with parents during the student's college years.This paper is a considerably revised version of Weidman (1979a). A portion of it was presented at the 1982 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association.     

大学生政治社会化障碍归因分析及对策探讨

大学阶段是大学生经历政治社会化的重要时期,也是大学生政治观和政治人格趋于形成和成熟的关键时期。大学生是祖国的希望和民族的未来,其政治社会化的方向和进程对我国未来的发展有着不可忽视的影响。因此,对大学生政治社会化的障碍进行归因分析并在此基础上对其优化路径进行探讨,对于促进大学生政治社会化的进程具有重要的意义。     

Mentorship Matters: Does Early Faculty Contact Lead to Quality Faculty Interaction?

This study seeks to understand the factors that contribute to a type of student–faculty interaction known to have particular benefits for students, faculty mentorship. Using three-time-point data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at the University of California, Los Angeles, this study employed structural equation modeling to investigate the relationship between contact and communication with faculty in the first year of college and faculty mentorship in the senior year. Results suggest that early interaction with faculty serves as a socialization process in college that leads students to have more meaningful interactions with faculty later in college, in the form of mentorship. The study extends the field’s understanding of faculty mentorship and offers important implications for institutional practices.     

试论网络时代大学生社会化面临的挑战

网络时代大学生社会化面临新的挑战，这些挑战主要表现为第四媒体对大学生政治社会化的挑战，网络文化对大学生全面社会化的挑战，大学生网民主体的挑战。     

大学生廉洁教育的社会化探讨

廉洁教育在大学生思想政治教育中具有重要的地位.作为大学生思想政治教育的一部分,廉洁教育也应适应思想政治教育社会化的趋势,才能取得实效、长效.大学生廉洁教育的社会化应该围绕使大学生掌握廉政知识与树立廉洁品质的目标,发挥好高校在大学生廉洁教育中的主导作用;探索加强家庭廉洁教育的作用;优化大学生廉洁教育的社会环境质量以及注重构建大学生廉洁教育社会化的运行机制与网络.     

Collaborating with undergraduates: Obstacles and tips

An increasing number of educators have called for active learning strategies to educate college students. At the same time, college instructors are being called upon to publish at increased rates while maintaining high teaching loads. One way to merge the ideals of active learning with publishing is to engage students, particularly undergraduate students, in collaborative projects. Writing, re‐searching, and publishing with undergraduate students is not an easy task, however. In this paper, we address obstacles that likely keep faculty from working with undergraduate students in this manner. We conclude by suggesting strategies to facilitate student/faculty projects.     

Socialization of Doctoral Students to Academic Norms

Using the framework for graduate and professional student socialization developed by Weidman, Twale, and Stein (2001), this study addresses socialization of doctoral students to the academic norms of research and scholarship. Data are presented about the perceptions doctoral students in a social science discipline (sociology) and in educational foundations at a major research university have of the scholarly and collegial climates of their departments. Data on students' social relationships with faculty and peers as well as their reported participation in scholarly activities are also reported. A multivariate analysis provides support for the framework, affirming the importance of social interaction among both students and faculty as well as collegiality among faculty for creating a supportive climate for doctoral study that also has the potential to provide a strong foundation for subsequent academic and/or research careers by stimulating students' research and scholarly productivity.     

The effects of differential college environments on academic learning and student perceptions of cognitive development

It was the purpose of this study to assess the effects of differential college environments on academic learning and cognitive development by testing Pascarella's theoretical general causal model with longitudinal data from a national database on college students. Secondary analysis of longitudinal data from the 1986 Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) freshman survey and from the 1990 follow-up CIRP survey was conducted to formulate the five clusters of independent variables and two dependent variables as postulated by Pascarella. The final sample was composed of 2,165 students at four-year institutions. The data were analyzed using path analysis. Direct, indirect, and total effects of all variables are reported. Results of the path analyses partially supported Pascarella's theoretical causal model. Findings suggested that student precollege traits, the quality of student effort in academic pursuits during college, and interactions with faculty and peers are more salient influences on learning and student perceptions of cognitive development than institutional characteristics and institutional environment. Based on the findings of the present study, a refined causal model for college student academic and cognitive outcomes is proposed. Recommendations and implications for further study are given.     

The freshman course: A curricular schema

Research on college students indicates that (a) attrition is greatest during and at the end of the freshman year and (b) retention is associated with the degree to which a student is integrated socially and academically. Recently, freshman courses have been introduced to increase the integration of students into college environments. The core components are informal contact with peers and faculty or staff, a small group setting, and cognitive and affective learning. A classification system for freshman courses formulated from dominant themes that emerged from a review of current practices of 20 colleges and universities is reported. Characteristic features and analogous programs of the interdisciplinary, developmental and utilitarian approaches are presented.     

Articulating identities and analyzing belonging: a multistep intervention that affirms and informs a diversity of students

This article describes a multistep intervention developed for an undergraduate course called ‘Advocating Diversity in Higher Education.’ The goal of the intervention was to affirm diversity and foster a sense of inclusion among students within and beyond the course. We contextualize the intervention in student protests during 2015 and 2016 regarding racial and other forms of discrimination on college and university campuses in the United States, and we describe how it is informed by several theoretical frames and associated practices: intersectionality, belonging, and radical pedagogical partnership. Co-authored by the faculty member who co-designed and co-taught the course, an undergraduate student who co-designed the course, and a recent graduate who co-created the course when she took it, the article embodies the inclusion and radical partnership it analyzes. It is intended to offer individuals working in higher education an intervention that can be adapted across contexts.     

高校师生交流的生态学实证分析

师生交流是影响高校学生学习和社会化的重要因素。良好的师生关系有助于学生更好地参与学习生活。当前高校师生交往互动总体水平较低,不同类型院校差异显著;高校人才培养模式、教师的教学行为、高校学生工作、学生的学习动机等对师生的情感交流和学习交流状况具有不同的、显著影响。目前高校的生态环境决定了师生交往的限制,只有通过大学生态环境的逐步改善,比如人才培养模式改革、配套制度建设、资源配置倾斜、与学工系统密切合作等,才有可能建设良好的、有利于学生学习的师生互动。     

Raising the Next Generation

Amy Morris Homans had a vision that graduates of the Boston Normal School of Gymnastics and Wellesley College would make physical education a well-respected profession. The professional preparation received by her students equipped them to be educators, administrators, and future leaders of physical education. The purpose of this essay is to examine the socialization process that doctoral students in kinesiology experience as they prepare for their roles as future faculty in higher education. New faculty members quickly discover that they must be more productive than their predecessors, and they must possess broader talents to meet the societal expectations placed on university faculty. Three simultaneous socialization processes will be discussed: the role of the graduate student, the roles and way of life of faculty in higher education, and into the discipline. How can doctoral faculty better prepare future faculty to meet the expectations of the tenure and promotion process? Strategies by which the doctoral experience may be reformed to improve doctoral socialization are provided.     

Engaging Undergraduates in Science Research: Not Just About Faculty Willingness

Despite the many benefits of involving undergraduates in research and the growing number of undergraduate research programs, few scholars have investigated the factors that affect faculty members’ decisions to involve undergraduates in their research projects. We investigated the individual factors and institutional contexts that predict faculty members’ likelihood of engaging undergraduates in their research project(s). Using data from the Higher Education Research Institute’s 2007–2008 Faculty Survey, we employ hierarchical generalized linear modeling to analyze data from 4,832 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty across 194 institutions to examine how organizational citizenship behavior theory and social exchange theory relate to mentoring students in research. Key findings show that faculty who work in the life sciences and those who receive government funding for their research are more likely to involve undergraduates in their research project(s). In addition, faculty at liberal arts or historically Black colleges are significantly more likely to involve undergraduate students in research. Implications for advancing undergraduate research opportunities are discussed.     

‘The accommodation I make is turning a blind eye’: faculty support for student mothers in higher education

The levels of support which faculty provide to students have been linked to a number of positive effects on students such as lower rates of attrition, greater satisfaction with college life, enhanced self-concept, improved academic performance and more likelihood of remaining enrolled in college through stressful life periods. There are surely fewer periods of life that are busier than new motherhood. This paper presents research carried out at a higher education institution in the United Arab Emirates. We look at the ways in which faculty interact with new student mothers and employ interviews to explore ways in which faculty acknowledge and offer academic and pastoral support to the new mothers. Their perceptions of students’ coping strategies when they combine motherhood and college studies are reported, and the ways in which faculty navigate college policy which relates to the student mothers. Faculty saw themselves as being extremely supportive and flexible towards new mothers. Whilst undergraduate student motherhood was uncommon in their home countries, it was generally felt that the increased organization, efficiency, time management and resilience witnessed in student mothers were assets to the college community. This study also has wider applicability to faculty support of non-traditional students in other settings.     

Industry,academe, and the values of undergraduate engineers

This paper contributes to research about organizational effects on the socialization of undergraduates and the formation of engineers' values by examining the effects of exposure to academic and industrial work, in the form of cooperative employment and undergraduate research, on the educational experiences, job values, and life objectives of engineering students. Using data from a questionnaire survey conducted in the spring of 1990, we found that both programs strongly influenced participants' skills, job values, and life objectives, even when social background, academic performance, reasons for attending college, parental socialization, and other collegiate and noncollegiate variables were controlled. Cooperative employment more strongly influenced students' skills and had a greater effect on their career decisions, but research experience had a surprisingly powerful influence on values and life objectives, particularly the value placed on receiving peer recognition and influencing the political structure.     

Examining the relationships among collaborative learning,autonomy support,and student incivility in undergraduate classrooms

In response to the general perception among college faculty that student incivility is an increasing problem, we investigated ways in which collaborative learning and autonomy support are related to incivility. After collecting survey data from college faculty and their students, we conducted a path analysis to test the mediating effects of peer interaction for students' perception of autonomy support and incivility in different collaborative learning contexts. Results showed that student perceptions of autonomy support positively predicted instructor intolerance of incivility in classes that used formal and informal group work, with social learning acting as a significant mediator for formal groups only. Classroom community negatively predicted intolerance of incivility for informal groups. Suggestions for future research are discussed.