Progress and Education

Operational characteristics for successful mentoring programs of new university faculty include clarity of purpose of the program, methods for matching mentors and protégés, mentor training, mentor–protégé relationship building, and program effectiveness assessment. Strengths of formal, informal, peer, group or consortia, intra-departmental, inter-departmental, and research mentoring approaches to mentoring from the literature are presented. Using characteristics and outcomes from successful programs, a proposed four-stage model of conceptualization, design and development, implementation, and evaluation can lead to the benefits of socialization into the culture, emotional support, networking, and increased job performance.     

Faculty Mentors in Teacher Induction: Developing a Cross-institutional Identity

ABSTRACT

Though the knowledge base on mentoring new teachers has grown exponentially in the past 30 years, researchers know less about university involvement in induction, and even less about the role that faculty mentors may play in induction. Drawing on interview, e-mail, and observational data from a yearlong mentoring relationship between a faculty mentor and 7 new teachers, the author examined a faculty mentor's role in supporting beginning teachers. Findings highlight the importance of identity development in assuming a cross-institutional role as a faculty mentor. The transition from teacher educator to teacher mentor requires the development of a mentor identity that is recognized and valued in the community of practice inhabited by classroom teachers.     

Mentors and Muses: New Strategies for Academic Success

Mentoring programs in higher education institutions have met with mixed success. In response to the limitations inherent in the dominant approaches to mentoring, we present an example of a unusual mentoring program, the New Scholars Network (NSN). The NSN is a variant of traditional mentoring approaches, having evolved from mentoring into musing. Framed within a radical humanist philosophy, musing is a process of creating peer communities that facilitates connections between naturally developing relationships, shared power, and collective action. Through mentoring as musing new faculty have the potential to evolve as change agents in the institution, instead of assimilating into the existing system.     

Tensions of Reimagining Our Roles as Teacher Educators in a Third Space: Revisiting a Co/autoethnography Through a Faculty Lens

This co/autoethnography uses our lens as university faculty to examine how engaging in a year-long self-study with mentors nurtured a complicated third space where we could together begin to reimagine our roles as teacher educators. Two secondary faculty members and a doctoral assistant used co/autoethnography to revisit a collaborative self-study with mentors to better identify both the individual and programmatic complexities that arise when a third space is opened and we are invited to reinvent our perspectives and responsibilities as co-teacher educators. We ask two questions: What happens when faculty facilitate a third-space teacher education program with mentor teachers? How does this third space influence the teacher education practices in an urban teacher residency program? We present a series of tensions about our work together as teacher educators in the third space. They include professional into authentic relationships, authority into collaboration, collaborative agency into individual agency, and apprenticing to master teacher into apprenticing within a collective. Following findings about each tension, we discuss how we as faculty navigated each tension. Finally, we consider the implications of our work for all field-based teacher education programs.     

The Outcomes of Chinese Visiting Scholars’ Experiences at Canadian Universities: Implications for Faculty Development at Chinese Universities

This article examines the outcomes of the overseas experiences of Chinese visiting scholars and the implications of visiting scholar programs for faculty development at Chinese universities. On the basis of semi-structured interviews with 17 returned Chinese visiting scholars who spent six to 12 months in a faculty of education at one of five Canadian universities, the following significant aspects of their experiences and related outcomes were highlighted: The cycle of overseas experiences and associated outcomes of Chinese visiting scholars, factors influencing the outcomes of their overseas experiences, visiting scholar programs as a type of faculty development, and China-Canada academic collaboration through visiting scholar programs. The findings support the literature-based conceptual model for investigating the experiences and outcomes of visiting scholars. In the new era of sending university faculty abroad, we suggest that visiting scholar programs should be treated as an important approach to professional development for faculty and be incorporated into a comprehensive faculty development package for Chinese university faculty.     

Building a support system toward tenure: challenges and needs of tenure‐track faculty in colleges of education

This article describes the experiences, perceptions, and available support systems of untenured faculty from a south eastern United States public university system in their progress toward tenure. Survey results were used to develop a model support system for new faculty. Data were collected from an online survey sent to 191 tenure‐track faculty in colleges of education, yielding a 50% (n = 96) response rate. The following research questions guided this research: (a) What are the expectations for teaching, research and service in the colleges of education surveyed? (b) In what ways are untenured faculty supported and/or mentored? (c) What kind of support system(s) need(s) to be in place to assist new faculty in balancing teaching, research, and service expectations? In this mixed‐methods study, respondents were asked about their workload, expectations for tenure, and formal and informal support they received on the tenure track. Untenured faculty reported stressful and unbalanced lifestyles, and work expectations exceeded assigned workloads for several institutions. A new faculty comprehensive support system model is suggested.     

Introduction to the Special Issue on Perspectivesand Experiences on Mentoring Undergraduate Students in Research: Part II

Abstract

This issue is the second of a special PRIMUS two-part issue collecting articles on undergraduate research from experienced faculty mentors. We offer it as a valuable resource for faculty leading undergraduate research programs. This issue presents a collection of papers offering advice on a variety of specific topics important for leaders of undergraduate research programs. Issues of finding and designing appropriate and accessible research projects, assessing undergraduate research, and publicizing it in the media are addressed.     

Evaluating a Psychology Graduate Student Peer Mentoring Program

Research on mentoring outcomes and characteristics of various types of mentoring programs in different settings is limited. The present study sampled 39 graduate students at a small Midwestern university to evaluate peer mentoring in a graduate school setting. Mentoring function and outcome relationships as well as program characteristics were explored. As expected, mentoring functions were highly correlated with various outcomes. Results indicated psychosocial assistance, networking help, and relational outcomes were reported most among participants. Interestingly, pair compatibility and mentor preparation were not found to be essential program characteristics. Program recommendations and future research are discussed.     

David Purpel,Emeritus Professor: In Memoriam

This article employs an intersectional analysis of the experiences of Black faculty at an elite US university who have mentored Black undergraduates, and focuses on faculty’s meaning making of their connection to their mentees, and challenges they face in these relationships. Findings reveal that faculty found their shared cultural background enhanced mentoring, and they worked hard to establish trust with their mentees, absent at times in mentees’ relationships with White faculty. Participants shared barriers to engaging in mentoring relationships, with gender and age intersecting with race for unique challenges and benefits for the subjects. Policy recommendations are made to support junior faculty mentors in the tenure granting process, and produce incentives for all faculty to share the responsibility of mentoring.     

Fostering Sustainability: A Case Study of a Pilot Mentoring Program at a Private University

The purpose of this paper is to provide documentation of a one year Pilot Mentoring Program (PMP) that was implemented within a department at a school of education within a private university. PMP was tied to the culture and specific needs of the department. It included seven newly hired faculty members and their mentor who were from various programs within the department. Even though PMP evolved over the course of an academic year, and was labeled a formal mentoring program, it was restricted to a trial basis. As PMP evolved, an exploratory qualitative action-research study was conducted.     

Raising the Next Generation

Amy Morris Homans had a vision that graduates of the Boston Normal School of Gymnastics and Wellesley College would make physical education a well-respected profession. The professional preparation received by her students equipped them to be educators, administrators, and future leaders of physical education. The purpose of this essay is to examine the socialization process that doctoral students in kinesiology experience as they prepare for their roles as future faculty in higher education. New faculty members quickly discover that they must be more productive than their predecessors, and they must possess broader talents to meet the societal expectations placed on university faculty. Three simultaneous socialization processes will be discussed: the role of the graduate student, the roles and way of life of faculty in higher education, and into the discipline. How can doctoral faculty better prepare future faculty to meet the expectations of the tenure and promotion process? Strategies by which the doctoral experience may be reformed to improve doctoral socialization are provided.     

Mentoring African American Faculty in Predominantly White Institutions

Mentoring has been identified as a method to facilitate the professional growth and development of African American faculty and to increase their representation in predominantly White institutions. However, there is little empirical evidence from studies of this group to suggest that this is the case. This article presents findings from a study of the mentoring experiences of African American faculty in two predominantly White research institutions, and the findings are presented using a cross case analysis to highlight complexities which may affect the dynamics of faculty-to-faculty mentoring for African Americans. The findings from this study make two important contributions to the literature on faculty-to-faculty mentoring for African Americans: an analysis of assigned mentoring relationships and the concept of the isolation of African American faculty in predominantly White institutions. The findings also challenge the literature on traditional faculty-to-faculty mentoring in three areas: mentor functions, phases of the mentor-protégé relationship, and race in the mentoring relationship. The article concludes with implications for practice and the role of the university in taking affirmative steps to facilitate the professional growth and development of African American faculty.     

Role of the University in Community College In-Service Education

Abstract

Of concern to many educators is in-service education of community college faculty. Some two-year colleges have looked to themselves for in-service programs and activities; many have turned to the university for this. A study was conducted among community college leaders and university professors involved in community college education to determine the current status of in-service education in the community college. Opinions related to this topic as well as the role of the university in in-service education of community college faculty were also sampled.     

Academic Life-support: The Self Study of a Transnational Collaborative Mentoring Group

In this paper, we examined the collaborative mentoring processes of a transnational network. A narrative approach was employed to explore the mentoring practices and experiences of 19 women involved in the CURVE-Y-FRiENDs (C-Y-F) network. Their mentoring practices go beyond transnational, ethnic, discipline, and university borders. The processes employed in the network can be conceptualized as pathways to professional relationships. The narratives of C-Y-F members illustrated collaborative mentoring as an expression of the personal and professional dimensions of support, which must be part of academic life. Collaborative mentoring relationships and discourse provided a response to the current inconsistencies in faculty mentoring practices and have implications for the ways in which administrations and faculty in general initiate more empathetic structures and procedures that better meet the mentoring needs of women and minority faculty in academia.     

“Mentoring is Sharing the Excitement of Discovery”: Faculty Perceptions of Undergraduate Research Mentoring

Although an increasing number of studies have examined students’ participation in undergraduate research (UR), little is known about faculty perceptions of mentoring in this context. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate four aspects of mentoring UR, including how faculty define high-quality UR mentoring and operationalize it in practice; what the perceived benefits and challenges of UR participation are for mentors and students; how mentoring relates to faculty perceptions of their other roles (teachers, advisors, and scholars); and how participation in various communities of practice influences UR mentoring. Sixty faculty respondents at a private, midsized comprehensive institution completed an online survey. In a series of qualitative analyses, responses to open-ended questions were coded as instrumental, psychosocial, or blended. Analyses revealed that faculty perceptions of UR mentoring were impacted by faculty approach to UR mentoring and faculty rank. These findings may be helpful in the development of UR programs and faculty support programming.     

University alumni mentoring programs: a win-win?

Alumni-student mentoring programs have become commonplace at many universities, and yet, scholarly research has rarely explored the impact of these programs on participating students and alumni. To address this, we investigated three alumni mentoring programs at a large research-intensive university in Australia. Using a mixed methods approach (a web based survey and interviews), we sought both students' and mentors' perceptions of their alumni mentoring program and how their involvement may have impacted their perceptions of the university (n=197). The findings highlight that alumni mentoring programs provide distinct benefits to both students and alumni and may result in improved university engagement. Our results also indicate new revelations about alumni mentoring programs, including the challenges associated with mentoring postgraduate students and recommended best practice to ensure the success of alumni mentoring programs.     

Undergraduate Research and Service-Learning Programs in a Kinesiology Program at a Teaching University

High-impact practices foster student success, but faculty faced with heavy teaching loads and lack of resources and infrastructure are challenged to implement such practices. Kinesiology faculty at California State University, East Bay collaborated to implement two student programs: Kinesiology Research Group and Get Fit! Stay Fit! The Kinesiology Research Group, a faculty–student research group, and Get Fit! Stay Fit!, a service learning experience, partnered to consolidate human and structural resources. Student–faculty mentoring circles were used to support this innovative partnership. Here, we report student perceptions of the value of these programs to their academic and professional development.     

Who mentors undergraduate student researchers? An analysis of faculty involvement at a four-year university

ABSTRACT

In this study, we investigated a profile of faculty who mentor undergraduate researchers at a four-year Hispanic-serving, public research university. Six variables were investigated: ethnicity, gender, age, tenure status, teaching evaluations, and research productivity. Data were compiled from institutional databases. Findings showed a greater percentage of tenured faculty mentoring undergraduate researchers while the percent of minority UR faculty mentors was consistent with institutional percentages. Additionally, findings included a higher percentage of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Undergraduate Research (UR) underrepresented minority faculty mentors compared to STEM Institution (INST) underrepresented minority faculty. For research productivity, UR faculty mentor funding comprised 28.0% of all external grant awards and 36.0% of all external funding during the sampling period. The majority funding for INST and UR faculty were found to be in the STEM disciplines. These findings provide evidence of potential predictors to describe UR faculty mentor profiles and can be considered important information for determining future educational policies and practices.     

Results of two national surveys of leadership personnel needs in deaf education

Seventy university teacher preparation programs and 100 instructional programs serving at least 120 deaf and hard of hearing students were surveyed separately to (a) determine the demand for additional doctoral-level leadership personnel in deaf education, (b) obtain guidance for university leadership preparation programs in deaf education for the purpose of recruiting leadership personnel, and (c) identify experiences that would be relevant to the positions for which prospective leadership personnel are preparing. Data representing 54% of teacher preparation programs and 65% of instructional programs serving deaf and hard of hearing students in the United States evince the need for additional doctoral-level personnel for faculty positions in university teacher preparation programs in deaf education, as well as the need for leadership positions in instructional programs serving deaf and hard of hearing children. Data also provide direction for leadership preparation programs in addressing the leadership personnel needs of the field.