CIRCLE ExpandED | Dr. Jennifer Freeman | Effects of Transfer Student-Faculty Interactions

More Than an Email: The Effects of Transfer Student-Faculty Interactions at a Four-Year University

April 23, 2024, 12pm-1pm

Jennifer Freeman, Ph.D.
Graduate School of Education
University of Pennsylvania

Community colleges serve as a vital pathway for upward mobility, enrolling a disproportionate number of first-generation, racially minoritized, and low-income students and facilitating their transfer to four-year institutions. Despite the opportunities transfer pathways offer, the retention and graduation rates of transfer students remain pressing concerns. Numerous studies have highlighted that faculty-student relationships are among the most influential factors shaping the success of transfer students. Indeed, a substantial body of research links student engagement with faculty to a range of positive psychosocial and academic outcomes; however, this literature primarily focuses on students who begin college at four-year institutions. Given the well-documented challenges transfer students encounter when adapting to new university environments, a detailed understanding of their interactions with faculty is crucial for fostering student success. In this presentation, I will share insights from a survey of transfer students at a single University of California campus, which asked about their experiences throughout the transfer process and their perceptions of academic and social integration at the receiving institution. Specifically, I will present findings from a study investigating the nature and frequency of faculty-student interactions, both inside and outside the classroom, and how these interactions relate to students' academic achievement and progress toward graduation.

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ExpandED: Broadening the Understanding of Contemporary Issues in Education and Policy

The Texas Tech University Educational Leadership Policy faculty in collaboration with the Center for Innovative Research in Change, Leadership, and Education (CIRCLE) invite you to join us for our virtual brown bag series, “ExpandED: Broadening the Understanding of Contemporary Issues in Education and Policy.” Featuring researchers from the College of Education and various institutions across the country, the aim of this series is to bring together students, faculty, and researchers at Texas Tech and beyond to disseminate knowledge that is of immediate relevance to educational leadership and policy and facilitate the cross-pollination of ideas across multiple institutions.

This year, audiences from across the country will gather virtually to engage with speakers on topics related to policy evaluation and open-science research practices, evolutions and social constructions of education policy over time, and empirical research noting the barriers and challenges to providing equitable educational opportunities for historically marginalized students.

To access recordings of all previous ExpandED talks, please visit the webinars page linked here: https://www.depts.ttu.edu/education/w...

More about Texas Tech University's Center for Innovative Research in Change, Leadership, and Education (CIRCLE): https://www.depts.ttu.edu/education/o...