Undergraduate faculty members\u27 perception of their role in increasing student success and retention

This study examined the relationship between faculty perception of their role in increasing student retention and actual interaction with students at Tennessee State University. The primary purpose of this study was to determine if undergraduate faculty perception of their role in increasing student success and retention is related to their actual level of interaction with students outside of the regular classroom setting. In addition, faculty interaction with students was examined based on gender, age, ethnicity, marital status, institutional origin, rank, faculty appointment, and status. The sample for this study consisted of 151 undergraduate faculty from Tennessee State University that were currently employed by the university. A self-developed perception survey was used to gather the data to complete the study. Hood\u27s Faculty Perception Survey consisted of 36 response items, eight of which provided demographic information and the remaining 28 were content-related. The content validity of the self-developed survey was determined by several experts in the area of study. A peer review panel of six experts in the field reviewed the instrument to establish content validity. This panel included an interim assistant dean, a dean of students, a department chair, a university recruiter, a former university administrator and a current university faculty member. There were three research questions, nine research hypotheses, and nine null hypotheses used to determine if there was a correlation between undergraduate faculty members perceived roles and actual level of involvement, and to determine if significant differences existed based on gender, age, ethnicity, marital status, institutional origin, rank, faculty appointment and status. Findings of this study were: (1) There was a significant correlation between undergraduate faculty perception of their role in increasing students, success and retention and actual interaction with students outside of the regular classroom; (2) There was not a statistically significant difference in the actual level of interaction with students based on the gender, age, ethnicity, marital status, rank, faculty appointment, and status; (3) A statistically significant difference was found for participants\u27 actual level of interaction with students outside of the classroom based on the institutional origin of the participants; (4) Expectation, faculty roles, knowledge of current retention rate at TSU, age, rank, and status could account for 37% of the variance in faculty interaction