Faculty Perceptions of What Makes a Student Successful in the Mathematical Sciences

• In Event: 16.058 - Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: 16.058-1 - Assessment and Academic Performance

Abstract

The National Alliance for Doctoral Studies in Mathematical Sciences is a nation-wide network of faculty mentors that aims to support underrepresented students’ path from undergraduate to graduate studies in the mathematical sciences. Using Swail’s (2003) Framework for Retention of Minority Students, this study investigates faculty mentors’ perceptions of factors that make students successful in mathematics, statistics, and biostatistics. Faculty attribute reasons for success to individual-level factors, while reasons of failure are attributed to institutional and contextual factors. Surprisingly, faculty did not attribute success or failure to teaching, curriculum, or pedagogy. An alternative graphical representation of Swail’s retention model is proposed.

Authors

• Casey E. George-Jackson, University of Louisville

• Lisa Skultety, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign