@EdWorkingPaper{ai26-1465,
title = "Student and Faculty Same-Race Matching at Research Universities",
author = "Siyuan Luo, Nan Fu, Trey Miller, Taylor Odle",
institution = "Annenberg Institute at Brown University",
number = "1465",
year = "2026",
month = "April",
URL = "http://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1465",
abstract = {Racial disparities in college persistence and completion remain substantial, yet relatively little evidence exists on how student–faculty interactions contribute to these gaps in research universities. This study examines the prevalence and consequences of student–faculty same-race matching using administrative data covering first-time, first-year students enrolled in 10 Texas public research universities between 2011 and 2021. Linking students and instructors at the course level yields more than 1.9 million student–course–instructor observations. Descriptive analyses show that same-race matching is highly uneven: while White students frequently experience same-race instructors, such matches are rare for Black and Hispanic students due to persistent disparities in faculty representation. Leveraging within-student variation in course assignments and models with student and classroom fixed effects, we estimate the causal effects of same-race matching on academic outcomes. Same-race matching improves course performance and reduces course withdrawal, with particularly large effects for Black students, and is associated with modest gains in persistence. These findings highlight how faculty diversity may influence student success in research universities.},
}