As a generational turnover is impacting higher education with new perceptions, viewpoints, and ideas replacing the old ones, this article addresses the effect of the age gap between faculty and students. Two parallel surveys with 200+ undergraduate students and 40+ faculty were conducted, posing the question, "In your view, what is the…

As complex phenomena, spirituality and religion defy any single definition and are delineated differently yet often conflated. Despite the confluence of the terms, religion and spirituality are not interchangeable or equivalent. Spirituality aids the process of developing the whole student and affects learning while shaping perspectives and…

The author shares the results of her research with focus groups of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and atheist students who discussed their religious and spiritual beliefs with her and with each other. She offers these students' words in order to encourage other educators to consider hosting similarly structured conversations and to think about the…

In this article, the author shares her research findings on the differences between how men and women respond to college. She explores some of the cornerstones of the undergraduate experience--living away from home, interacting with faculty, being academically engaged, and learning about diversity--and how they contribute in unique ways to women's…

Three decades of research and practice have demonstrated the power and importance of the experience of students who are making the transition from high school to college. Student persistence to the sophomore year and, ultimately, persistence to graduation are at stake. This recognition of the critical nature of the first year has motivated…

In 2000, Rutgers College launched a First-Year Interest Group Seminar (FIGS) program that offers entering new students an opportunity to engage in conversations on topics of mutual interest (health and medicine, business, or law) as well as learn about how to navigate a large Research-I institution. Each student involved in FIGS enrolls in a…

What are colleges for? What are they supposed to do? Are educators teaching their students how to grub for grades or how to learn in deep lasting ways? These are just some of the questions that the author attempts to explore in this article. An unbiased observer, looking at any organization, would look to its core processes, what its members do,…