Identifying institutional and departmental factors which may influence undergraduate minority student retention: A case study

摘要

This research serves as an attempt to tell the story of student and faculty experiences at three departments in a Land Grant university in the United States, called Aspiring University. The story helps to reveal factors which have attributed to low graduation rates of ethnic minority (African American, Hispanic, and Native American) students at the institution. Background information, including a thorough literature review and discussion of research methodology, is provided. The research utilized data from The University of Arizona's National Graduation Rate Study, and was constructed around the framework of the Retention Assessment Model. Analysis revealed six themes (a surreal community, identity and isolation, diversity and pedagogy, mixed messages, weeding out, and who's responsible?), organized around the factors of environment and expectations, as possible answers to the question of why ethnic minority students are retained and graduate from AU at rates lower than predicted.