Faculty-Student Interaction Outside the Classroom: A Typology from a Residential College

Faculty-student interaction is an important component of the undergraduate experience. Our year-long qualitative study explored the complex nature of faculty-student interaction outside the classroom. Our resulting typology identifies five types of interaction: disengagement, incidental contact, functional interaction, personal interaction, and mentoring. This typology provides researchers with a new lens through which they can examine faculty-student interaction and suggests that even non-academic interactions between students and professors can be meaningful to students. Finally, the typology will allow faculty, staff, and administrators to improve current practices and develop initiatives that build bridges between faculty and students outside the classroom.