Prior research points to the first year of college as a critical time in selecting a college major. Considering the number of studies focusing on the STEM gender gap, surprisingly little research has examined gender differences and the influence of the first college year on the STEM major selection. Using data from the Wabash National Study of…

First-year seminars (FYS) are courses "intended to enhance the academic and/or social integration of first-year students" (Barefoot, 1992, p. 49). In 2008, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) introduced a list of 10 high-impact practices (HIPs) that had been tested and found to have significant positive…

The demand for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates has increased significantly over the last decade. Because of the insufficient number of STEM graduates, this demand has not been met, resulting in a significant shortage of STEM workers in the US (President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2012). The…

Many students engage in cocurricular involvement experiences in college, and research on student involvement has suggested benefits for students in terms of college outcomes. Involvement has been positively associated with academic self-confidence (Berger & Milem, 2002), academic success and satisfaction (Webber, Krylow, & Zhang, 2013),…

Noncognitive factors, such as academic self-efficacy, motivation, and sense of belonging, predict college students' academic performance and retention. It is unclear if varying profiles of academic mindset are differentially associated with student success. We examined first-year college students' academic mindsets (perceived academic…

Although academic motivation is an important predictor of academic success, we show that being academically motivated is not equally beneficial for everyone. More specifically, the results indicate that African American students benefit less from being academically motivated than do their White peers, particularly when they report interacting with…

Strengths-based approaches are flourishing across hundreds of higher education institutions as student affairs practitioners and educators seek to leverage students' natural talents so they can reach "previously unattained levels of personal excellence" (Lopez & Louis, 2009, p. 2). Even amid the growth of strengths-based approaches…

This study focused on the dispositions of entering first-year students, their perceptions of classroom and institutional environments, and their subsequent academic engagement. Total variance explained by variables included in the path model for academic engagement was 30%. The results of this study found evidence to support the theoretical model…

We surveyed 237 first-time college students to examine the extent to which social-cognitive factors--self-efficacy, perceptions of mentorship, high school GPA, ACT scores, first-semester college GPA, and demographic characteristics-- influence freshmen's intent to persist. Standard multiple regression and MANOVA were conducted to determine the…

To increase student engagement, many universities are adopting high-impact educational practices that include study abroad opportunities, faculty mentoring, internships, service learning, challenging coursework, and research experiences; these institutions are also intentionally promoting high-impact cocurricular activities such as community…

Few scholars have comprehensively examined benefits of undergraduate research (UGR) participation for students at an institution campus-wide. In this study we examined benefits of UGR participation at a Hispanic-majority institution using National Survey of Student Engagement data. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine the…

Undergraduates (N = 2,823) at 6 universities were surveyed longitudinally to examine the relevance of student home setting on the transition to university. Preliminary results indicated that rural students seem less likely to attend large, ethnically diverse universities. Hierarchical linear models revealed that "proximal rural" students…

With a national sample of 700 Native American students who took the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), this study tested the ways faculty interaction and inclusion of diverse perspectives in the classroom contributed to learning for Native American students. Significant predictors of learning were quality academic advising, faculty…

The purpose of the study was to estimate the relationship between academic achievement in college, as defined by first-year grade point average (GPA), and self-authorship among African American first-year students at an HBCU (N = 140), using hierarchical linear regression techniques. A single research question guided this investigation: What is…

While leadership development is considered an important goal of education on many campuses, very little is known about how leadership skills develop in a diverse environment, which most colleges will be in the future. We compare causes for Socially Responsible Leadership (SRL) at the end of college students' first year in one diverse liberal arts…