College Students and Faculty in the Residential College Environment

There is a widening trend in developing smaller, §more personal living-learning environments within §large research universities. Additionally, there is §significant evidence supporting the developmental §contributions for undergraduate college students §living on-campus and interacting with their faculty §outside of the traditional classroom. This study §examines the development of college students as an §outcome of out-of-class interaction with their §faculty within the designed residential college §environment. I analyzed the experiential reflections §of fourteen undergraduate students through their own §voices. This analysis allowed me to create a §typology for college student-faculty interaction §with four variables influencing two qualitatively §defined levels of interaction -- rudimentary and §heightened. Students shared a wide variety of §experiences with their faculty outside the formal §classroom. Students all generally wanted meaningful §interactions with their faculty members, and the §specific outcomes shared in their interviews were §all directly attributed to their interactions with §their faculty outside of the traditional classroom.