University of Northern Colorado Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC Dissertations Student Research 5-2021 Faculty-Student Interaction and Impact On Well-Being in Higher Education Cortney Elizabeth Holles Follow this and additional works at: https://digscholarship.unco.edu/dissertations UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO Greeley, Colorado The Graduate School FACULTY-STUDENT INTERACTION AND IMPACT ON WELL-BEING IN HIGHER EDUCATION A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Cortney Elizabeth Holles College of Education and Behavioral Sciences School of Teacher Education Educational Studies May 2021 This Dissertation by: Cortney Elizabeth Holles Entitled: Faculty-Student Interaction and Impact on Well-Being in Higher Education has been approved as meeting the requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Education in College of Education and Behavioral Sciences in School of Teacher Education, Program of Educational Studies Accepted by the Doctoral Committee ____________________________________________________ Christine McConnell, Ph.D., Research Advisor ____________________________________________________ Jingzi (Ginny) Huang, Ph.D., Committee Member ____________________________________________________ Heng-Yu Ku, Ph.D., Committee Member ____________________________________________________ Vilma (Betty) Cardona, Ph.D., Faculty Representative Date of Dissertation Defense _________________________________________ Accepted by the Graduate School _________________________________________________________ Jeri-Anne Lyons, Ph.D. Dean of the Graduate School Associate Vice President for Research ABSTRACT Holles, Cortney Elizabeth. Faculty-Student Interaction and Impact on Well-Being in Higher Education. Published Doctor of Education dissertation, University of Northern Colorado, 2021. This educational criticism and action research study was conducted in the spring of 2020 to better understand the impact that faculty-student interaction has on the well-being of faculty and students. Classes moved to remote instruction halfway through the semester, prompting an additional research question on the impact of COVID-19 on faculty-student interaction and well- being. Data were collected at an engineering school from five faculty (4 participants and the researcher) and their students primarily through interviews, focus groups (with 16 student participants), and a student questionnaire (with 73 student respondents). Data analysis was structured with Uhrmacher, McConnell, and Flinders’ (2017) instructional arc, expanded to include student intentions and faculty perceptions. Faculty and students described what interactions are supportive and unsupportive of their well-being and indicated that there are different ways to give and receive care. The findings call for both a language and a system for expressing care needs in higher education, through better valuing of relationships and teaching. In higher education, and particularly in STEM programs, we can mitigate overwhelm by implementing new policies and practices to better support well-being of faculty and students through financial and structural support and via the evolution of curriculum, including analyses of hidden, shadow, and complementary curricula. It is also critical to consider how care work is defined and gendered within an institution, especially in regard to contingent or non-tenured iii faculty. The flow of care model expresses the ways in which supportive care can either be blocked or allowed to flow throughout the hierarchy of higher education. Future studies should examine interaction among different types of faculty or levels of students and explore the impact of interaction on the well-being of people of color, underrepresented groups, and marginalized populations. Keywords: well-being, faculty-student interaction, higher education, care, teacher-student relationships, feminist pedagogy iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The time I spent working on this degree overlaps with the most tumultuous times of my life and it is astounding to reflect back on it all. I have been held up and supported by so many people during this time, and I wouldn’t have made it to the finish line without them. To Kaya and Sage, it is all for you. You put up with a sometimes distracted, frustrated mom. You walked around my piles. You saw me at my worst. And through it all, you have been fighting your battles, growing into amazing young adults and I couldn’t be prouder to be your (Dr.) Mom. I hope I have taught you a little about perseverance, but I am quite confident that you have both taught me more about that yourselves. To my parents, you were my additional eyes and ears and wheels and refrigerator in raising the kids throughout this program. Your unflinching love and support see me through everything, always. I’m so honored and grateful to be your daughter. And to Jon and Kate, having my whole family so close by gives me strong roots from which I draw strength. Thank you for being in my life. To Jeff, for being by my side for the two decades when I became the educator who could write these pages. I am always indebted to you for helping me create the two most precious humans and for asking me once what kind of book I’d write and what I’d do with my degree. It’s finally becoming clear. To my SSC sisters, Mary, Tracy, Jenn, and Melissa, your lifelong friendship is invaluable and you’ve supported me in this dream from its earliest days. To Kelly, thanks for being a cheerleader friend-turned college peer-turned teaching colleague-turned EdD buddy—it has been v an honor to grow in friendship with you all these years. And to the Wisdom Warriors—Angel, Danielle, Katie, Tonya, and Shakti, your daily support of me is life-affirming and has saved my sanity on any number of occasions. You saw me through the ups and downs of every step of writing this dissertation—my gratitude runs so deep for each of you. To my department and campus colleagues—you have shown me great support in my teaching and the pursuit of my degree. Many of you took time to meet with me to develop my ideas over the years and have provided moral support. Special thanks to Jon and Jen for mentoring me on pursuing my doctorate from my first days on campus, to Jen and Elizabeth for showing me how mothering can coincide with teaching and research, to Laura and Rachel who were excellent sounding boards and cheerleaders. And to my co-teachers for many years, Ed and Meridee, Roel and Qin: thank you for enhancing my teaching practice and for your friendship. To Christy McConnell, the best advisor a doctoral student could ask for: you have been an inspiration to learn from, teach with, and study under. You consistently reassured me and instantly uplifted me when I called on you. Your faith in me through the tumult was a beacon. To the Angry Giraffes, my cohort, it was a privilege to learn alongside you and I’m so glad I met you on this journey. Thanks for pushing my thinking and sharing your ideas with me. To my committee members, thank you for lending your time, support, and expertise to my research journey. Dr. Walker, Dr. Middleton, and Dr. Phillips—you signed on to my original committee and helped me shape my proposal and design. Dr. Huang, Dr. Ku, and Dr. Cardona— you picked me up and supported me through to the finish line. Finally, and importantly, my deep gratitude to the participants of this study. You opened up your time and classrooms and personal experiences and gave them freely to this study. I am indebted to you for these gifts of your experience. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS PROLOGUE ..............................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................4 Problem of Practice ........................................................................................................5 Study Rationale ..............................................................................................................8 Purpose and Significance of the Study ..........................................................................9 Research Questions ......................................................................................................11 Summary and Outline ..................................................................................................14 CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................16 Definitions and Search Terms ......................................................................................16 Faculty-Student Relationships and Interactions...........................................................18 Student Perceptions of Faculty Behavior Measuring Faculty-Student Interaction Negative Faculty Behavior and Outcomes Stress and Anxiety Well-Being and Care....................................................................................................27 Well-Being Studies Summary ......................................................................................................................31 CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY .........................................................................................32 Conceptual Framework ................................................................................................32 Action Research ...........................................................................................................35