March 1999

Related Links Initiatives in Educational Transformation (IET)

Improving Faculty-Student Interaction at George Mason By Emily Yaghmour Stop for a moment and think about your years in college. More than likely, you had a positive experience--if you didn't, you probably wouldn't be working in higher education today. But what made that experience positive? It was probably due in part to your relationship with a faculty member or members who guided you, instructed you, and inspired you. But a report released last year by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) suggests that, unfortunately, many George Mason undergraduates may be graduating without ever having this kind of relationship with a faculty member. The report is based on surveys given by 17 Virginia public institutions of higher education to their alumni who received undergraduate degrees during the 1993-94 academic year. SCHEV collected the results of these surveys and compared the satisfaction rates of the students from each institution. George Mason ranked among the lowest in students' overall satisfaction with their college educations, and it ranked the lowest by far in students' satisfaction with advising in their degree programs. Of the almost 80 percent of the George Mason alumni who responded, only 16 percent said they were "very much" satisfied with advising; as many as 25 percent said they were "not at all" satisfied with it. Karen Gentemann, director of the Office of Institutional Assessment, has some serious reservations about the report. Since the survey methods were different at every institution, comparing the results from the different schools was "a little like comparing apples and oranges," she says. Still, she admits that the gap between the satisfaction rates of George Mason graduates and the rates of graduates from other schools was too wide to ignore. Each year, her office conducts its own survey of graduating seniors, and although the overall satisfaction rate rose markedly among '98 graduating seniors over the previous year's rate, satisfaction with advising has remained consistently low for the past several years. The link between dissatisfaction with advising and dissatisfaction with faculty-student interaction may seem tenuous at first. After all, there is an Office of Academic Support and Advising Services on campus with a staff of advisors who are not in teaching positions. But this office serves only those students who have not yet declared a major, those who are changing their majors, and those in preprofessional programs. The survey asks students about satisfaction with advising in their degree programs; in many cases, responsibility for advising within degree programs falls on the shoulders of faculty members who teach in those programs, although some academic units have staff members who advise. But "advising" is a slippery term because it means different things to different people. To some, it may mean just telling students what courses to take to meet the requirements of their degree programs, but to Joe Wood, vice provost of academic affairs, it means "mentoring, talking about career issues, about how what you do in one course relates to what you do in another...This kind of interaction involves an investment of time on both parts," he says. "It means interaction outside of the classroom." "The kind of genial interaction students love," says Karen Rosenblum, vice president for University Life, "is when faculty members take time for them." Ted Bradley, associate professor and undergraduate coordinator in Biology, is one such faculty member, she says. Bradley believes that successful advising requires the advisor to get to know the student. "When I first see students, I have to tell them that I don't know that I'm giving them good advice because I don't know how well they are going to do," says Bradley. "We need to work this out little by little." The insights Gentemann has gleaned from focus groups she has conducted on this issue confirms the notion that advisors should get to know their students. New Century College is a small program that includes intensive advising. In addition, it provides a lounge where faculty members and students regularly gather informally. Gentemann has found that New Century College students, unlike students in many other programs, express great satisfaction with the level of interaction they have with their faculty members. But satisfaction rates are much lower in some departments and programs. Take, for example, the experience of one sophomore. When she went to her professor with doubts about her career direction, he displayed "kind of a rushed attitude." She says he basically told her: "Figure it out and come back." She found this very frustrating. After all, she says, "[my career] is something that will last a lifetime." Is it that faculty members don't like performing this service? Not according to Esther Elstun, professor of German and chair of the Faculty Senate. "It is my sense that most faculty members really do enjoy interaction with students," she says. Rosenblum believes the time element is a big part of the problem. "We have a terrifically overworked faculty," she says. And since most faculty members find it impossible to get any work done while on campus, Rosenblum says, many of them go elsewhere to work. Unfortunately, she points out, this leaves students feeling that faculty members are running away from them. Wood believes that faculty members have so little time for advising because of the imbalance between the number of full- and part-time faculty members. The university generally doesn't ask part-time faculty members to advise, he points out, so the full-time faculty members provide much of the advising on campus. President Alan Merten calls it "a warm body problem." He says the number of students per staff and faculty member is simply too high. "You need the right number of people to provide the services." But, according to Merten, the problem is not only a "resource" issue, but also an "attitude" issue. He says it is the responsibility of the deans and chairs to remind faculty members of their responsibility to advise and interact with students. He also notes the importance of rewarding those who perform this job well. Apparently, the reward issue is another piece of the problem. "I think that, among some faculty members, there's the perception that these forms of service [advising and interacting with students] are not what the university is interested in rewarding," says Elstun. But to Dave Harr, a faculty member in the School of Management and assistant dean for academic programs, interaction isn't driven just by policy or resource considerations. It is also a consequence of the size of the university and the composition of its student body. Since the majority of Mason students are commuters and work during the day, much of Harr's interaction with them occurs via telephone or e-mail. If this were a small, residential, traditional campus, dissatisfaction with faculty-student interaction would not likely be much of an issue, Harr says. Elstun, who serves on the Faculty Senate of Virginia, agrees. "But I'm not ready to conclude that the problem is one of size alone," she adds. "I think there are things that we can do to foster more interaction." Last summer, University Life created a couple of initiatives to do just that. The staff held a new-student orientation in which the students were divided into groups of 30, and a faculty member was assigned to meet with each group. Both Rosenblum and Bradley believe this initiative failed to accomplish the goal of bringing faculty and students together in a meaningful way. Rosenblum was more optimistic about the results of efforts during last year's Welcome Week, when her office organized several activities, including a book sale, to bring faculty and students together. The irony is that students themselves often do not seek interaction with faculty members. Apparently, some students don't initiate the interaction because they believe it may be inappropriate. According to one graduate student, "I could use more [guidance] in terms of career--what's out there in terms of job options...But I'm not sure it is their job to provide that kind of information." And, according to Wood, sometimes students don't pursue interaction with faculty members because they don't see the value of it. If getting an education is like buying a shirt, says Wood, then you probably don't need this interaction, but he doesn't believe that basing education on a retail sales model leads to much satisfaction. Another obstacle that keeps students from approaching faculty members is shyness. "When you are 19 years old," says Harr, "faculty members can appear to be pretty intimidating." He recalls his own undergraduate years when he once agonized over approaching an accomplished faculty member. When Harr summoned the courage to talk to him, the faculty member turned out to be friendly as well as extremely helpful. But this isn't always the case. One undergraduate puts it simply: "Some professors aren't very approachable." Harr says that some faculty members may be reticent about student interaction outside of the class or office because they think they need to maintain a formal relationship. "This tends to inhibit a more casual approach," he says. Another faculty member points out that they also may fear the risk of a sexual harassment charge if their interest in a student is misunderstood. "On the other hand," Harr points out, "many faculty members find it very easy to interact with students inside and outside the classroom." To help break the ice with his own students, Harr uses a little friendly, informal conversation in his classes, such as "Who likes country music?" When no one raises his hand, he says, "Ah, you wouldn't admit it if you did. Well, I like country music." Then he talks a little about his favorite singers, and this often leads to students' opening up. This practice of demonstrating friendliness and humor, and revealing a little about himself in class, makes students feel more at ease with him. Once, a woman came to him with a personal concern: she had done something that troubled her and wanted to tell her father about it, but was afraid to. They talked about it at length. Harr believes she felt comfortable approaching him about this "because she knew I had a daughter her age." As Harr points out, establishing rapport with students is much easier in small classes. If the General Assembly decides to grant Governor Jim Gilmore's request for $2 million to increase the number of full-time faculty members at George Mason, the university may be able to decrease the size of some classes. "If classes were smaller," Bradley points out, "we would come off a lot better" in student surveys. But Wood cautions that this is no panacea. "We still have to find ways to engage students and faculty in interaction," he says. Part of the solution is to work to "instill in students a greater sense of responsibility for seeking advice," says Wood. Another important step is to "build systems that help the faculty learn what the policies are." Wood says that the administration is looking for ways to recognize those faculty members who are involved with students outside of the classroom. One way to do this, he points out, is to make this a consideration in the review process. Before any such policies are instituted, however, Elstun calls for a public dialogue. "Whenever [shifts in expectation] occur, there must be discussion that leads to mutually agreed upon change in ways faculty members allocate their time." Student dissatisfaction with advising and student-faculty interaction at George Mason is a complex problem and may require multiple solutions. "But more and more people are paying attention to this and looking for solutions," says Wood. "From the point of view of the Provost's Office, advising is seen as some of the most important work faculty members do."