2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Impact of Faculty Behaviors on Student-Faculty Rapport: A Multi-Institutional Study

Presented at Student Services & Supports

This research paper describes the findings from an multi-institutional exploratory study identifying student perceptions of positive rapport. Numerous studies have identified that professors who can establish strong and positive rapport with their students have an immediate and positive impact on students’ learning, attendance, engagement, motivation and academic success, resulting in a positive long-term influence on retention. Building on previous work by Ozis and Winfree (2020) that ranked fifteen specific faculty behaviors fostering positive rapport at a single institution in the southeastern US, this study expands to include perspectives from civil, environmental, and construction engineering and management students across multiple institutions with different academic populations.
The objectives of this study are to:
*Identify faculty behaviors that have a higher potential for positive influence on rapport
*Determine whether, or the extent to which, demographics (e.g., region, type of institution, class size, student’s background, gender, status) affect students’ perception of what constitutes positive student-faculty rapport.
As part of this study, we will investigate student attitudes across a diverse group of US Universities through a survey and identify recommended strategies for developing positive rapport. The results of this work can be used broadly by faculty to enhance student learning and engagement through deliberate actions in developing rapport with students.

Authors

Dr. Fethiye Ozis P.E. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1484-8961 Carnegie Mellon University [biography]

Dr. Fethiye Ozis is an Associate Teaching Professor in the civil and environmental engineering department at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Ozis holds a B.S. in environmental engineering from the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Southern California. Dr. Ozis is a licensed Professional Engineer, Environmental, in Arizona. She is also an ENVISION Sustainability Professional. Before joining CMU, Dr. Ozis was a faculty member at Northern Arizona University.
Dr. Kyle Nathan Winfree Northern Arizona University [biography]

Dr. Winfree is the Associate Director for Undergraduate Programs in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems as Northern Arizona University. His research focuses on wearable technologies as applied to health assessment and rehabilitation.
Dr. Corinna Marie Fleischmann P.E. United States Coast Guard Academy [biography]

CAPT Corinna Fleischmann is a licensed Professional Engineer with military, academic and research experience in water resources engineering, environmental engineering, coastal resiliency, construction project management and engineering education. CAPT Fleischmann is a career educator who has been a member of the US Coast Guard Academy (CGA) faculty since 2004. CAPT Fleischmann’s passion for teaching and learning began early in her career. In 2007, she was certified as a Sustainable Building Advisor through the National Sustainable Building Advisors Program. In 2009, she began her PhD work at the University of Connecticut in Civil Engineering. Since earning her PhD in 2014 and has continued to seek out research opportunities collaborating with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Research and Development and Homeland Security on the Analysis for Coastal Operational Resiliency (AnCOR) project to assess the USCG’s preparedness to respond to a wide-area biological contamination incident impacting stormwater infrastructure and with CGA and USCG Health, Safety and Work-Life (HSWL) to develop COVID-19 sewage surveillance protocols. CAPT Fleischmann is actively involved with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Excellence in Civil Engineering Education (ExCEEd) program and spends time each summer mentoring civil engineering faculty at colleges and universities throughout the US. As a faculty member at CGA, she expanded and modernized the Civil and Environmental Engineering curriculum with the development of elective courses in Water Resources Engineering and Coastal Resiliency. She served as the Department Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering 2017-2021 and is currently serving in a new role as the Dean of the School of Leadership and Management.
Dr. Scott R Hamilton P.E. York College of Pennsylvania [biography]

Scott Hamilton is a Professor of Civil Engineering at York College of Pennsylvania. He is a registered Professional Engineer and has both a MS and PhD in civil engineering and a Masters in
engineering management from Stanford University and a BS from the United States Military Academy, West Point. He is a retired US Army Corps of Engineers officer who has had assignments in the US, Germany, Korea, and Afghanistan. During his military career he spent over 10 years on the faculty at the US Military Academy at West Point teaching civil engineering. He also served as the Director, Graduate Professional Development at Northeastern University’s College of Engineering. He is the recipient of the 2021 NSPE Engineering Education Excellence Award and the 2019 ASCE Thomas A Lenox ExCEEd Leadership Award.
Dr. Kaitlyn T Hanley P.E. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8252-4689 New York University Tandon School of Engineering [biography]

Dr. Hanley is an Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering at New York University, teaching courses in environmental chemistry and microbiology, fundamental environmental engineering laboratory techniques, environmental engineering process design, and the senior environmental engineering capstone design experience. She is a licensed Civil Engineer (CA) with over 17 years of specialized academic and industry experience, specializing in stormwater management, watershed-based planning, and microbial water quality engineering. In addition to her teaching and mentoring responsibilities, Dr. Hanley is working to expand the undergraduate Environmental Engineering program at NYU Tandon.
Dr. Tanya Kunberger P.E. http://orcid.org/https://0009-0003-9407-7753 University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown [biography]

Dr. Kunberger is Division Chair for Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown.
Dr. Monica Palomo P.E. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona [biography]

Professor

B.S. Civil Engineering, University of Guanajuato, Gto, Mexico, December 1999, summa cum laude.

M.S. Civil Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, May 2003.

PhD. Civil Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS , May 2008.

Dr. Palomo is currently a Professor in the Civil Engineering Department at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona). In this position, Dr. Palomo is responsible for teaching courses such as Introduction to Civil Engineering; Hydraulics; Water and Wastewater Treatment; Groundwater Mechanics; Research Experience of Undergraduate Students; and Engineering Outreach Service Learning courses, among others. She is also a faculty advisor for the California Water Environment Association (CWEA), and Engineers Without Boarders (EWB) student chapters. Additionally, Dr. Palomo is the CE Water Analysis laboratory director and coordinates all teaching, research and safety training activities in the engineering laboratory. Dr. Palomo conducts research in surface water quality improvement via natural treatment systems, water and wastewater treatment processes, and water education. She is involved in outreach programs for K-12 students to increase the participation of Hispanic female students in STEM fields
Dr. Jennifer Retherford P.E. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville [biography]

Dr. Retherford is an alumna of the University of Nebraska, Omaha, and received her graduate degrees from Vanderbilt University. She currently teaches a variety of courses supporting the department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of
Dr. David A Saftner University of Minnesota Duluth [biography]

David Saftner is an Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth. He received a BS in Civil Engineering from the United States Military Academy and MS and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Dr. Camilla M. Saviz P.E. University of the Pacific [biography]

Camilla Saviz is Professor and Chair of Civil Engineering at the University of the Pacific. She holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University, an M.B.A. from the New York Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Davis. She is a registered engineer in California.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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