Strong communities, measured in terms of belonging, are often shown to produce positive social and educational outcomes. Although useful, this approach narrows the potential scope of the concept and inadequately measures complex communities where positive outcomes, such as student engagement, can be mixed with negative outcomes, such as social…

Student engagement in higher education is theorized as a significant link between classroom behaviors and measurable student success outcomes such as grade point average, year-to-year retention, and (on-time) graduation. There are a wide variety of definitions of student engagement, some more dominant than others, in the higher education…

Once considered by researchers to be an innovation in undergraduate education, living-learning communities (LLCs) exist today on many campuses throughout the US (Inkelas et al., 2018). In these communities, students live together, take part in shared academic experiences, and engage in cocurricular programming designed to enhance their learning…

For decades, researchers have investigated the impact of faculty-student interaction as well as the contexts in which such interactions occur and are most productive (Astin, 1993; Kuh & Hu, 2001). Cox (2011) identified two consistent outcomes from this body of research: first, that interactions between faculty members and students have…

The authors used the Personal and Social Responsibility Inventory (PSRI), a nationally available campus climate assessment, for this study. The PSRI, which assesses individual students' behavior and perceptions of campus climate related to civic learning in higher education, was developed in 2006 as part of the Core Commitments Initiative of the…

We used quantitative data from the National Study of LGBTQ Student Success to investigate if participation in high-impact educational practices influenced lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer (LGBQ+) students' academic development. We also examined if these effects are mediated by perceptions of the campus environment. Our findings suggested that…

Student participation in short-term study abroad programs has increased at a rapid pace; however, little is known about students' post--study abroad practices regarding negotiating meaning of their experiences. The purpose of this study is to explore students' post-study abroad participation and reification of their experiences using the…

Latino males are the lowest male ethnic subgroup to attain a four-year STEM college degree. This phenomenological qualitative research study used two rounds of interviews with twelve Latino male students in Central Texas to examine their first semester science experiences using a science identity framework. Findings indicate that developing a…

Honors programs at colleges and universities are one way to provide additional learning opportunities to enhance the undergraduate experience for students. Honors programs provide students academically enriching activities through small classes, research, internships, and community service (National Collegiate Honors Council, n.d.). To further the…