Student evaluations of college professors: When gender matters

Student evaluations completed over a 4-year period at a private liberal arts college were analyzed for the effects of teacher gender, student gender, and divisional affiliation. A significant multivariate interaction between teacher gender and student gender was found for each of the 4 semesters examined. Overall, the ratings of male professors appeared to be unaffected by student gender. In contrast, female professors tended to receive their highest ratings from female students and their lowest ratings from male students. This interaction generally remained when possible confounding factors (such as teacher rank) were partialed out. The mean ratings received by female and male professors also varied as a function of the divisional affiliation of the course. Implications of these findings are discussed.