Recent research and critiques of affirmative action in college admissions raise questions about popular approaches for enhancing learning outcomes, suggesting that a diverse student body is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for experiencing diversity, creating supportive learning environments, or fostering desired outcomes of college.…

This study examined the extent to which women and men majoring in science, math, engineering, and technology (SMET) fields engaged in a broad array of effective educational practices. Women in SMET fields were generally as, or more, engaged in educationally fruitful activities as their male counterparts. The results of this study, when combined…

Examined effects of student-faculty interaction on student satisfaction and self-reported learning and personal development gains associated with attending college. Found that frequency of student-faculty interaction increased from first year through senior year; although its net effects were trivial, such interactions had substantial positive…

Examines the quality of the undergraduate experience in the 1990s, using student data that spans the four decades beginning with the 1960s. Two questions are addressed: whether college students in the 1960s and 1970s gained more from their undergraduate experience than subsequent cohorts, and whether reforms are having the desired effects. Data…

A study investigated whether college students' experiences with three good practices in undergraduate education (faculty-student contact, cooperation among students, active learning) increased from 1990 to 1994. Subjects were 5,962 students in 17 baccalaureate and 22 doctoral-granting institutions. Results indicated increased faculty-student…

Identifying trends in the kinds of research that comprise the college student literature is an important step in understanding the development of the field. The methods, the substantive topics, and types of papers that characterized the 1969-1983 college student literature is examined. (Author/MLW)

Data from 1972, 1980, and 1986 reveal changes in the age, activities, research methods, and professionals of professors of higher education. Some significant scholarly differences between newly appointed and female faculty and more senior, male counterparts foreshadow changes in the professoriate. (Author/MSE)

Examples of qualitative investigations of traditionally hard-to-measure college and university characteristics using multiple investigators are rare, despite their potential for in-depth understanding and broad comparisons of institutional contexts. A team approach to qualitative multisite research was found useful and effective in a 9-researcher…

Based on a year-long cultural study, undertaken for the 1994 merger of Bethany Theological Seminary (Illinois) and Earlham School of Religion (Indiana), this essay describes distinctive aspects of the two institutional cultures, identifies potential cultural conflicts, and discusses the implications and benefits of using cultural research to guide…