Upon arriving on campus, college students face both academic and social challenges and opportunities, which are influenced by gender, racial/ethnic and other social identities. Friendship may be crucial to how students navigate academics and other aspects of college life. Recent sociological research focusing on high school students has pointed to the role of student clubs and organizations in facilitating the formation of peer groups and friendships that support academic and social identities. However, we know little about the broader role that friendship plays in academic life and transitions between worlds, particularly for college students. This study will explore students' friendships, especially as they relate to the connection between academic and social aspects of college life, through a minimum of 80 in-depth individual interviews and 12 focus group interviews with undergraduates at a large, public research university. Guided by social psychological, critical race, and feminist theories, as well as multiple worlds and subcultural approaches, this research will highlight possible bridges between academic and social worlds, such as participation in student organizations and academically-based friendships. The intent of this project, then, is to answer the following questions: To what extent do undergraduates perceive and personally experience academic and social life as integrated or separated? In what ways are friends involved in academic and intellectual life? How do friendships and social networks facilitate and/or impede students' navigation of academic and social life? How do organizational structures (e.g., student clubs) facilitate and/or impede students' navigation of academic and social life? How do social identities-particularly gender and race-inform students' perceptions and navigation of academic and social worlds? How does the social location of friends (e.g., friendships among students of color or friendships between men and women) inform students' perceptions and navigation of these worlds? Through answering these and other research questions, this research will contribute to sociological understandings of higher education, college culture, youth and adolescence, race/ethnicity, gender, and friendship through enhancing our understandings of how different gender, racial/ethnic, and other social identities interfere with and/or facilitate academic identities and illuminate what can be done to strengthen academic success for diverse populations. This research will have broader impacts beyond its contributions to sociological and educational scholarship. This research will be of interest to educational administrators and policy makers, especially those whose programs are aimed at improving the day-to-day lives of undergraduate students (e.g., classroom learning, dormitories, living-learning centers, and student groups). As women's and men's roles change and more students attend college from diverse backgrounds, we need to examine the practices that currently limit or enhance the development of strong academic and social identities. Understanding the role friendship plays in students' perceptions of academic and social worlds may help us better understand why some students succeed academically or persist in college while others do not.
