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“We Do Science Here”: Underrepresented Students’ Interactions with Faculty in Different College Contexts
Sylvia Hurtado, M. Kevin Eagan, Minh C. Tran, Christopher B. Newman, Mitchell J. Chang,
and Paolo VelascoHigher Education and Organizational Change program, Graduate School of Education and
Information Studies, UCLAAbstract
Faculty members play a key role in the identification and training of the next generation of
scientific talent. In the face of the need to advance and diversify the scientific workforce, we
examine whether and how specific institutional contexts shape student interactions with faculty.
We conducted a mixed methods study to understand institutional contextual differences in the
experiences of aspiring scientists. Data from a qualitative five-campus case study and a
quantitative longitudinal study of students from over 117 higher education institutions were
analyzed to determine how aspiring scientists interact with faculty and gain access to resources
that will help them achieve their educational goals. Findings indicate that important structural
differences exist between institutions in shaping students’ interactions with faculty. For example,
students at more selective institutions typically have less frequent, less personal interactions with
faculty whereas Black students at HBCUs report having more support and frequent interactions
with faculty.
