The Importance of Student Involvement: A Dialogue with Alexander Astin

This article is based on an interview with Alexander W. Astin, professor of higher education and director of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. Astin offered several implications of his theory of student involvement for students, faculty members, and administrators. He also commented on excellence as the development of students' talents and on the characteristics of today's college students, as reflected in the findings of an ongoing national study of over 5 million students, 100,000 faculty and staff members, and over 1,200 institutions of higher education.