A recent study found relationships with faculty have a large impact on students' success as graduate students, said Daniel Denecky, director of best practices at the Council of Graduate Schools.
The findings were published by Michael T. Nettles and Catherine M. Millett in a book released Wednesday, "Three Magic Letters: Getting to PhD." The research was based on data from the Survey of Earned Doctorates, produced by the National Opinion Research Council at the University of Chicago.
The study acts as a point of comparison between students from underrepresented groups and those in the majority and also looks at what effects might undermine their ability to complete their studies, Denecky said.
Students from underrepresented groups often report having a more difficult time forming a student-mentor relationship with a faculty member, he added.
"Underrepresentation is not a problem of numbers; there is more programmatic tension in universities that affects how women and minorities gain access to academics," he said.
The challenges faced by graduate students differ from those experienced by undergraduates because graduate students are operating in a very different environment, said Fred Damon, director of graduate studies in the Anthropology department.
For example, in the Anthropology department, students typically take 10 years to earn their Ph.D. and students range in age from 22 to 32, Damon said.
Graduate students are pursuing major research projects during the same years when they would also be settling down to start families, which is an interest that can compete with academic pursuits for a student's attention, he said.
A family can be a particular concern for female graduate students because, at the very least, they physically have to carry the child for nine months, Denecky said.
These competing interests affect the faculty-student relationship when faculty are unable to sympathize with students who are in difficult situations but still wish to complete their studies, he said.
Anyone with a young family is going to be under a lot of pressure, regardless of career, Assistant Dean of Engineering Katherine Thornton said.
Ideally, a student's research advisor will act in part as a mentor, but students should have many mentors and support systems outside academia for all the facets of their life, Thornton said.
"I have not personally had a problem finding faculty support," mathematics graduate student Katherine Ott said.
A few female faculty members have made additional efforts to reach out to students and work to positively affect their experiences, Ott said.
However, she added that the relationship between students and faculty members is comfortable but professional.
Currently, the University is making many employment decisions so that faculty diversity will resemble the diversity of the student body, said Roseanne Ford, associate vice president for graduate schools.
These new hires will help accommodate underrepresented students and serve as role models, Ford said.
Ford added that her department has begun efforts to find someone to serve as a director of graduate student diversity programs and who will look broadly at the matter of diversity.
The goal is to have a position that focuses not just on the number of minority students and faculty at the University, but that considers the entire spectrum of issues that face University graduate students, Ford said.
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