What Shapes College Students' Career Attitudes? Exploring the Role of Student-Faculty Interaction

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Abstract

This study uses data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education (WNS) to examine the relationship between several types of student–faculty interactions and five measures of students’ professional and career values. Results suggest that some measures of students’ interactions with faculty, such as frequency of student-faculty interactions, are positively associated with students’ fourth-year career attitudes, other interactions, such as personal discussions with faculty and faculty willingness to spend time outside of class, are negatively associated with students’ fourth-year career attitudes. These findings suggest that student-faculty interactions may play a role in shaping students’ professional and career attitudes in college.

Authors

• Teniell L. Trolian, University at Albany, State University of New York

• Gwendolyn Archibald, The University of Iowa

• Elizabeth Jach, University of Wisconsin - Madison