Becoming STEM Protégés:

:

Factors Predicting the Access and Development of Meaningful Faculty-Student Relationships

Race/Ethnicity

African American 16% American Indian 5% Latina/o 19% Asian 16% White 44%

Background and Pre-College Variables

Effect Native American (vs. White) – Came to college to prepare for graduate school + Goal of being well-off financially – Note: Several other pre-college experiences and achievement variables had significant associations with faculty mentorship prior to adding college experiences to the model.

College Experiences

Career goal: Discovery/enhancement of knowledge Failed one or more courses Joined club related to major Presented research at a conference Worked on independent study projects Tutored another college student Met with advisor/counselor about career plans Asked professor for advice after class

Effect

+ – + + + + + +

College Experiences

Challenged a professor’s ideas in class Felt intimidated by professors Felt isolated from campus life Felt that faculty are interested in students’ personal problems Felt that faculty are interested in students’ academic problems Satisfaction with racial/ethnic diversity of student body

Effect

+ – – + + +

Institutional Context

Control: Private Selectivity HBCU (vs. non-HBCU) Proportion of STEM undergraduates Student aggregate: Faculty are interested in students’ personal problems Faculty aggregate: Faculty are interested in students’ academic problems

Effect

+ + + – + +

Contact Information

Faculty and Co-PIs:

Sylvia Hurtado Mitchell Chang

Postdoctoral Scholars: Kevin Eagan Josephine Gasiewski Graduate Research Assistants: Christopher Newman Minh Tran Jessica Sharkness Gina Garcia Felisha Herrera Cindy Mosqueda Administrative Staff: Aaron Pearl Juan Garibay Tanya Figueroa Papers and reports are available for download at: http://heri.ucla.edu/nih Project e-mail: [email protected]

Acknowledgments: This study was made possible by the support of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH Grant Numbers 1 R01 GMO71968-01 and R01 GMO71968-05 as well as the National Science Foundation, NSF Grant Number 0757076. This independent research and the views expressed here do not indicate endorsement by the sponsors.