1. 7th Annual SERU Symposium University of Texas, Austin May 2, 2013 GALE S. STUART, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, AUSTIN GREGG E. THOMSON, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY Adrift or Engaged: What the SERU Data Tells Us

2. Academic, Research and Co-Curricular Engagement: A Descriptive Look 1. Purpose of the study is to examine multiple forms of engagement to help understand the extent to which research university undergraduates are “adrift” or engaged in their undergraduate education. 2. Data for the study are the combined results from the 2012 SERU and UCUES administrations. 3. The current study is a descriptive look.

3. Five Measures of Engagement [ACADEMIC ] Academic Time The sum of hours per week in class and hours per week studying. High engagement defined as 41 hours per week or more. 22% of all respondents. [ACADEMIC ] Academic Engagement Seven items measuring frequency of classroom and instructor interaction. High engagement defined as as “Often” or “Very often” on at least five of the items. 19% of all respondents. [RESEARCH] Research Engagement Three items indicating experience assisting faculty with research for credit, for pay, or as a volunteer, respectively. High engagement defined as “yes” for at least two of these plus of those with one of these who had also taken a research seminar and/or student research course. 23% of all respondents.

4. Five Measures of Engagement (cont.) [CO-CURRICULAR] Co-Curricular Leadership Leader or officer for at least one of ten types of campus organizations. 25% of all respondents. High engagement defined as leader or officer plus at least 6-10 hours per week in student organization activity. 14% of all respondents. [CO-CURRICULAR] Community and Civic Engagement Participation in community service activity this academic year. High engagement defined as at least 6-10 hours per week or at least 51-100 hours total type in community service or related activity. 18% of all respondents. The five measures total to 95%.

5. Overlap Among the Five Measures of Engagement Research Question: To what extent are students who are highly engaged in one area also highly engaged in other areas? There are three very different possibilities: 1. There is a great deal of overlap which would mean that high engagement is characteristic of relatively few students; 2. There is virtually no overlap which would mean that engagement in its various forms is distributed across large numbers of students; 3. Overlap occurs at levels expected by random or chance which would mean that the 95% total across five engagement measures in the current study would be largely unduplicated counts. Results are displayed on the next slide. In the current study the overlap between sets of engagement measures is greater than that expected by chance but not dramatically so.

6. Level of Overlap Between Engagement Measures Both YesBy Chance Acad TimeAcad Engage6%4% Acad TimeResearch4%5% Acad TimeLeadership4%3% Acad TimeCommunity6%4% Acad EngageResearch6%4% Acad EngageLeadership6%3% Acad EngageCommunity6%3% ResearchLeadership3% ResearchCommunity5%4% LeadershipCommunity4%3%

7. Measures of Engagement Distribution The cumulative effects of the overlap is shown in the distribution (%) of the five engagement measures: 0 = 40.3 1 = 33.9 2 = 17.5 3 = 6.5 4 = 1.6 5 = 0.2 2 in 5 of our respondents exhibit no form of high engagement, 1 in 3 have one form, and 1 in 4 have two or more.

8. What Student Characteristics Are Associated with Engagement? Research Question What types of student characteristics are most associated (correlated) with high engagement? Are there specific characteristics that are positively correlated with one form of engagement but uncorrelated or even negatively correlated with another? The current descriptive study looks at the association of engagement and nine types of student characteristics (listed on the next slide).

9. Associations with Engagement: Nine Factors 1. Field of study (defined as two-digit CIP codes) 2. Type of career aspiration 3. Gender 4. Race/Ethnicity (including International) 5. Family income (including Independent category) 6. Immigrant generation 7. Cumulative college GPA 8. Paid employment (hours) 9. Entry/Level status (Lower Division, Upper Division, Transfer)

10. High Academic Time HIGHEST % 32 CIP: Engineering 32 CIP: Health Profession 31 Career: Engineering 30 Ethnicity: International 28 Career: Medicine 26 CIP: Biological Science 25 Income: Independent 25 CIP: Computer Science 25 Ethnicity: African Am 25 Transfer Student LOWEST % 13 CIP: English 14 GPA: Under 2.7 15 CIP: Philosophy and Religious Studies 15 CIP: Communications 15 Career: No idea 16 Career: Psychology 16 CIP: History 16 CIP: Psychology 17 CIP: Social Sciences

11. High Academic Engagement HIGHEST % 36 CIP: Philosophy and Religious Studies 32 Career: Law 31 CIP: History 31 CIP: English 30 CIP: Visual Arts 29 CIP: Communications 29 Income: Independent 29 Working: 21+ hrs/wk 27 Ethnicity: African Am LOWEST % 13 Ethnicity: Asian 13 Lower Division 14 Career: Engineering 14 CIP: Engineering 14 GPA: Less than 2.7 14 CIP: Biological Science 15 CIP: Liberal Arts 15 Immigration: 2 nd generation 16 Career: Medicine

12. High Research Engagement HIGHEST % 44 Career: Research, Scientist 41 CIP: Psychology 36 CIP: Biological Sciences 34 CIP: Physical Sciences 33 Career: Psychology 31 Upper Division 30 Ethnicity: International 30 Working: 1-10 hrs/wk 28 GPA: 3.4 and higher 28 Immigration: 1st Generation LOWEST % 9 CIP: Liberal Arts 10 CIP: Philosophy 11 Lower Division 12 CIP: English 14 Career: Artistic 15 CIP: Visual Arts 16 CIP: Mathematics 17 GPA: Under 2.7 18 Working: 0 hrs/wk

13. High Co-Curricular Leadership HIGHEST % 21 CIP: Communications 19 Upper Division 19 CIP: Business 19 Career: Law 19 Income: $125,000 and higher 18 CIP: Engineering 17 Career: Business 17 Ethnicity: Asian 17 Working: 1-20+ hrs/wk LOWEST % 7 Transfer Student 8 Income: Independent 9 CIP: Mathematics 9 Lower Division 10 CIP: Foreign Language 10 Career: Researcher 10 CIP: Philosophy and Religious Studies 11 Ethnicity: Latino 11 GPA: Under 2.7

14. High Community Engagement HIGHEST % 29 CIP: Health Profession 26 Career: Medicine 24 CIP: Liberal Arts 23 CIP: Biological Sciences 23 CIP: History 23 Ethnicity: African Amer 22 Career: Education 21 Upper Division 21 Working: 1-20+ hrs/wk 20 Female LOWEST % 8 CIP: Computer Sci 11 Career: Engineering 11 CIP: Physical Sci 12 Career: Artistic 13 CIP: English 13 CIP: Engineering 14 Transfer Student 14 Ethnicity: No Data 15 Ethnicity: International 15 Male

15. At Least One Form of Engagement HIGHEST % 70 CIP: Health Profession 68 Career: Research, Scientist 67 CIP: Biological Science 67 Upper Division 66 GPA: 3.4 or higher 66 Ethnicity: International 65 Career: Law 65 CIP: Psychology 65 Working: 1-10 hrs/wk 64 Ethnicity: African Am LOWEST % 49 Lower Division 50 CIP: Mathematics 52 GPA: Less than 2.7 52 Career: Other 53 CIP: Liberal arts 53 Career: No idea 56 Working: 0 hrs/wk 57 Ethnicity: Latino

16. Discussion and Next Steps What are the significant “take-aways” from the descriptive study? In addition to multivariate analysis, a longitudinal analysis of multiple forms of engagement and their effects would be useful.