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The simultaneous proliferation of developmental education and online computer-based education creates questions about the success and failure of students engaging in remediation without teacher-led instruction. While many studies show minimal difference in student performance between online and face-to-face instruction (Schenker, 2007; Utts et al., 2003; Ward, 2004; Zieffler et al., 2008), other researchers (Bahr, 2012; Bailey, 2009; Crisp & Delgado, 2014) examine the effectiveness of developmental education to assist students in math, English, or both. In addition, Astin’s student development theory (1999) confirms that positive faculty-student interaction helps students persist through the curriculum. Faculty can create those supportive environments that help students. Therefore, within the cross-section of developmental education and computer-based instruction, the purpose of this study is to consider the importance of teacher care and civility for black and Hispanic developmental English students in an open-access, minority-serving institution. The findings show that while a statistically significant relationship was not observed, there is a positive relationship between students’ perception that the professor is caring and civil and the final grade.

This chapter presents a research study that examined post-disaster authentic university academic care resilience (PAUACR) at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). PAUACR is a university’s and its students’ capacity to bounce back from post-disaster educational challenges. PAUACR requires a strong caring response and authentic academic care environments. For the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI), PAUACR following Hurricanes Irma and Maria was crucial to ensure students successfully completed the academic year. To assess UVI’s PAUACR, this study utilized a caring about academic caregiving inventory (CAACI). This 49-item instrument was used to gain students’ discernment of post-disaster authentic university academic care (PAUAC). The research employed a cross-sectional exploratory survey research design. The empirical analysis found associations between the structural workings of UVI’s academic caregiving in the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and Maria. These findings offer distinctive indicators of UVI’s PAUACR. Along with the findings, this chapter offers practical lessons of academic resilience drawn from the experience of conducting post-disaster research.

This chapter offers an account on the development and usage of a conceptual framework and instrument to examine authentic university academic care (AUAC) at the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI), a non-mainland Historical Black College and University. AUAC is an amalgamation of genuine human concerns and disciplined nurturing within university academic services. This chapter is a synthesis of literature review, data analysis, findings and discussion on AUAC. Data were collected from a convenient sample (n = 126) of UVI students’ responses. An exploratory quantitative research design was used. Exploratory factor analysis identified eight associated caring about academic caregiving criteria in all four-points on the university academic caring carescapes framework. Based on UVI students’ perceptions and a factor-score correlation analysis, academic caregiving of colleges/schools were observed to be the focal point of UVI’s AUAC. Furthermore, the strongest association was found between the academic caregiving of colleges/schools and faculty.

Scant attention has been paid to the influence of professors on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students' learning and lives at the tertiary level. To fill this void, this chapter examines the influence of professors on students' entering and remaining in the STEM disciplines and pursuing STEM careers within the context of six funded STEM grants in the southern United States. We examine professor–student interactions using the students' storied experiences as the fodder for our narrative inquiry. We present narrative exemplars from which the following themes emerged: (1) agency as a student and agency as a human being, (2) development of students' multilayered identities, and (3) professors' engagement of themselves in their interactions with students. A discussion of learner-centeredness and professors' professional development in higher education concludes this study of professors' influence on students' learning and intended careers.

Ila Semenick Alam is an associate professor. She received her Ph.D. in 1995 from Rice University in Houston, Texas. Her primary fields of specialization are applied econometrics and productivity in various sectors including the airlines, healthcare, and financial institutions. She has published in: Journal of Productivity Analysis, International Economic Review, World Bank Economic Review, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Singapore Economic Review, and Productivity and Economic Performance in the Asia-Pacific Region.