Education Commons^™

Mentoring As A Catalyst For Change: Creating A Mentor Training Curriculum Using The Servant Leadership Model, Alana S. Freeman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation-in-praxis was a response to the problem of a lack of youth involvement at Warren Chapel United American Free Will Baptist (UAFWB) church in Winterville, NC. The Collaborating Coach, Pastor Betty Haddock, and the Collaborating Team were concerned about the church's future amid its aging congregation. The importance of investing in the spiritual formation of the younger generation in preparation for them being mature successors of current leaders is a principle reflected throughout Scripture. The Bible encourages the older generation to teach the younger generation about Godly principles so they will retain what they have learned when they are …

The Effect Of Formal Mentorship Programs On Nurse Faculty Retention: An Integrative Review, Lisa Livingston

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The nursing shortage has been a hot topic for decades, and literature supports a need to address this issue. Although faculty are critical to educating the nurses of the future, the shortage has impacted nurse faculty numbers as well. Nursing shortages are predicted to increase over the next decade. Evidenced-based interventions are critical to help sustain the nursing workforce. This integrative review highlights the importance of formal mentorship programs for new nurse faculty as a retention strategy for use by administrators of schools of nursing.

The Assessment Of The Program Theory And Processes Of Books For Keeps’ Literacy Mentoring Program, Allison Shaw

Graduate Research Showcase

The significance of reading proficiency is frequently emphasized by the time a student reaches the third grade. Third-grade reading proficiency serves as a crucial indicator of a student's potential success in high school and beyond, including college. Research indicates that a failure to attain grade-level reading proficiency by the third grade correlates with increased challenges in comprehending educational requirements and meeting the demands necessary for graduation.

This study focuses on the Books for Keeps Literacy Mentoring Program in Athens, Georgia, which is designed to cultivate supportive relationships between mentors and students, fostering enthusiasm for reading. The examination of the program …

How Peer Mentors Support The Transition Of First-Year College Students, Blair Prevost

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This qualitative, multiple case study examined how peer mentors at a public, four-year university supported the transition of first-year college students. Using Schlossberg’s (Anderson et al., 2021) Transition Framework the study was guided by the following questions: 1) How did peer mentors, in light of the Approaching Transitions phase in Schlossberg’s (Anderson et al., 2021) theory, help first-time students understand their college transition? 2) In what ways did peer mentors directly provide support to first-time students to help first-time students as they transition to college? 3) With what other support resources, whether on or off campus, did peer mentors connect …

The Perceptions And Lived Experiences Of African American Female Faculty At Predominantly White Institutions: A Phenomenological Study, Jasmine L. Jackson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative phenomenological approach aims to understand the perceptions and lived experiences of African-American female faculty at predominantly White institutions and the strategies used to overcome barriers. The theory guiding this study is intersectionality theory, introduced by Kimberlè Crenshaw, discovering the multilayers of discrimination that women face and providing a template to encourage antidiscrimination. This theory adequately addresses the focus of this inquiry because it highlights the discrimination often experienced by African-American female faculty and the experiences of various individuals from the targeted population. This study's methodology was based on interviews with different African-American female faculty at predominantly White institutions. …

Maurer School Of Law, Iu Northwest Partner On Law Scholars Program, James Owsley Boyd

Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)

The Indiana University Maurer School of Law, working in collaboration with Indiana University Northwest, has established a new program to act as a pipeline into law school, the schools announced today (June 27).

The Indiana University Northwest Law Scholars Program will substantially reduce tuition for up to four IU Northwest graduates interested in pursuing a legal education in Bloomington, as well as supply qualifying students with dedicated faculty mentorship to help ensure their success.

Chapter 1- Mentoring Origins And Evolution, Bob Garvey

Making Connections

This chapter is in nine parts. The first explores the origins and meanings of mentoring from the Ancient Greek to modern times in different parts of the world. The second section discusses the similarities and differences between mentoring and other developmental relationships.

The third part explores the difficulties in defining mentoring. As an alternative to a definition, the fourth part looks at the dimensions of mentoring and the fifth part explores how the dimensions could be applied in practice. Following this, the sixth section considers a range of mentoring arrangements found in academia and uses the dimensions framework to develop …

Chapter 10- Preparing The Effective Mentor, Natasha Mickel

Making Connections

Mentoring is a central component of teaching and learning in academia that involves mentors ranging from novice to advanced mentoring experience. Mentoring has been found to play a crucial role in successful career development at every professional level in academia. Consequently, it’s imperative that institutions design and implement mentoring programs that prepare mentors, regardless of background, to establish, build, and maintain positive mentoring relationships.

This chapter begins by discussing mentoring and its role in academia. As institutions strive to retain faculty, staff, and students, it serves institutions well to understand how the successful implementation of effective mentoring programs can close …

Chapter 21- Mentoring Graduate Underrepresented Minorities In Stem, Benjamin C. Flores, Jessica Shenberger-Trujillo, Milka Montes

Making Connections

In this chapter, we discuss high-impact mentoring practices for graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). We make a case for inclusive and assets/strengths-based mentoring approaches as a strategy for increasing the number of doctoral degrees awarded to historically underrepresented minorities (i.e., Hispanics, African Americans, Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Pacific Islanders); improving their levels of satisfaction with doctoral programs and reducing the notoriously extended time to the PhD that they endure. We offer two examples of national programs committed to promoting graduate student success through professional development and mentoring strategies in which instrumental support, sponsorship, psychological support, …

Making Connections: A Handbook For Effective Formal Mentoring Programs In Academia, David D. Law, Nora Domínguez, Bob Garvey, Mark J. Hager, Kim Hales, Audrey J. Murrell, Gloria O. Onosu, Rachel Arocho, Benjamin A. Johnson, Neal Legler, James Y. Taylor, Greg Dart, Michael A. Christiansen, Don Busenbark, Lisa Z. Fain, Jamie Crites, Paul Hernandez, Natasha Mickel, Dionne Clabaugh, Assata Zerai, Nancy López, Laura Gail Lunsford, Nicole Vouvalis, Andy Harris, Jim Lamuth, Monica Castañeda-Kessel, Shirley L. Yu, Arianna Black, Gönül Kaletunç, Timothy Schroeder, Tara S. Hackel, Yadéeh E. Sawyer, Jeff Spears, Hannah M. Lewis, Jennifer Grewe, Harrison Kleiner, Et Al.

Making Connections

This book, Making Connections: A Handbook for Effective Formal Mentoring Programs in Academia, makes a unique and needed contribution to the mentoring field as it focuses solely on mentoring in academia. This handbook is a collaborative institutional effort between Utah State University’s (USU) Empowering Teaching Open Access Book Series and the Mentoring Institute at the University of New Mexico (UNM). This book is available through (a) an e-book through Pressbooks, (b) a downloadable PDF version on USU’s Open Access Book Series website), and (c) a print version available for purchase on the USU Empower Teaching Open Access page, and …

Chapter 13- Improving Mentoring Relationships And Programs Through Assessment And Evaluation, Laura Gail Lunsford

Making Connections

Chapter 13, Improving Mentoring Relationships and Programs Through Assessment and Evaluation, presents frameworks for deciding how to improve mentoring experiences. Assessment activities solicit feedback from or about the participants and focus on participant learning and in situ improvement opportunities. Evaluation efforts determine if the program achieved organizational goals. The chapter has four goals. First, the chapter clarifies the difference between assessment, evaluation, and research. Second, the chapter presents frameworks to guide assessment and evaluation efforts. Third, the chapter describes tools for assessment. Fourth, the chapter describes how to evaluate mentoring programs, what data to collect, when to collect it, …

Chapter 23- Advancing Institutional Mentoring Excellence (Aime): An Institutional Inclusion Initiative, Valerie Romero-Leggott, Orrin Myers, Andrew Sussman, Rebecca Hartley

Making Connections

The Advancing Institutional Mentoring Excellence (AIME) pilot project was created at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center to address concerns by faculty of color regarding feelings of isolation, lack of representation, and suboptimal retention. The purpose of AIME was to foster an institutional culture of belonging and rigorously evaluate best practices for mentoring faculty of color toward promotion and tenure. AIME used a reciprocal mentoring model, in which both mentors and mentees increased self-efficacy and skills through a structured series of exercises and encounters. Senior faculty mentors were matched with junior faculty of color mentees through an electronic …

Chapter 6- The Mentoring Context: Securing Institutional Support And Organizational Alignment, James Y. Taylor, Greg Dart

Making Connections

A university’s mission and vision statements are the guiding documents that create a framework by which the institution can accomplish its goals. All university initiatives are tied back to that mission and vision, and alignment is essential for university support of bottom-up initiatives. No matter how mentoring is structured, one area that is essential is proper internal institutional support and alignment with the mission of the institution. Focusing on the context in which the formal mentoring program occurs, this chapter outlines the importance of executive support, mission and vision alignment, incentivizing participation for both mentors and mentees, and how mentoring …

Chapter 20- Facilitating Leadership Learning Using Co-Mentoring Circles, Kathleen M. Cowin

Making Connections

Time for mentoring aspiring school leaders moving from their roles as veteran teachers, instructional coaches, or deans of students to their new role as K–12 principal certification interns is in short supply in today’s complex schools. Over the past 7 years, 76 interns have participated in co-mentoring circles. Co-mentoring circles offer educators a safe, supportive community in which to learn with others who are uniquely situated to understand the challenges present in today’s K–12 schools. Co-mentoring circles can provide a ready group of co-mentors one can call on without waiting for a specific mentor to be available. These circles are …

Chapter 18- Case Study Of The Statewide Faculty-To-Student Mentoring Program At Utah State University, Jeff Spears, Kim Hales, Hannah M. Lewis

Making Connections

The purpose of this article is to examine an undergraduate mentorship program through Utah State University (USU). The creation of the Faculty-to-Student Mentorship Program originated in an attempt to increase both retention and graduation rates throughout the statewide system. In the first year, a steering committee was formed, and the mentorship program was piloted on one statewide campus—Uintah Basin. During the next year, the program was expanded to all eight statewide campuses. The steering committee examined available literature regarding existing mentorship programs and identified three shortcomings: lack of theoretical framework, operational definition, and methodological rigor. This article discusses the program …

Chapter 27- Networked Mentoring Programs In Academia, Dawn E. Chanland

Making Connections

This chapter proposes the value of informal and formalized university networked mentoring programs for the benefit of students, faculty, and staff. As research on networked approaches has proliferated, more university programs that transcend the traditional focus on one-on-one mentoring dyads are also on the rise. Drawing upon the evidence-based and theoretical literatures on networks and formal programs, I discuss four networked approaches that have shown promise to maximize mentoring’s effectiveness in universities. The approaches involve varying degrees of university resource investment. We consider formal program characteristics that predict positive program and relational effectiveness in undertaking networked approaches. In addition, we …

Chapter 24- Intentional Onboarding And Mentoring Of New Faculty At Central Michigan University, Sarah Marshall

Making Connections

Recognizing that faculty who are mentored are more likely to successfully navigate the tenure process and become effective members of the academic community, Central Michigan University’s (CMU) College of Education and Human Services (CEHS) developed a comprehensive mentoring and professional development program for all new, full-time faculty. This program provided a network of support, resources, and guidance for navigating inevitable challenges. Prior to the development of this program, departments varied in the ways they encouraged and addressed faculty mentoring. Most informally assigned a faculty mentor, but as our initial assessment demonstrated, little to no mentorship occurred. With the recruitment and …

Chapter 15- Funding The Mentoring Program, Monica Castañeda-Kessel

Making Connections

Chapter 15, Funding the Mentoring Program, provides essential resources for allies who want to implement or enhance their existing mentoring programs. Contextually, the discussion of funding opportunities is framed within the formal and informal mentoring language with one caveat. Informal mentoring program funding does not mean that the funding is easy to acquire or not rigorous to implement. Informal mentoring has strategic advantages for developing employee expertise and other desirable skills. Formal mentoring is the most prevalent type and had organizational advantages of scale. This chapter is composed of four sections. First, a brief overview of the theoretical and …

Chapter 25- Mentoring Programs For Staff Of Educational Institutions: Unm Staff Council Mentorship Program, Amy Hawkins

Making Connections

In higher education, staff sometimes feel like the third wheel, the step-child, the forgotten ones sitting on the sidelines as students and faculty bask in the warm glow of academia. Administrators in university settings owe duties to (a) faculty and student needs; and (b) staff development, morale, needs, pay, and benefits. The University of New Mexico’s Staff Council was created so that volunteer university staff elected to serve as councilors can advocate for staff by offering recommendations to the university regarding staff development, morale, needs, pay, and benefits. Each can bring constituent concerns to the full Staff Council and its …

Chapter 14- The Mentoring Program As A Research Project, David Law, Nicole Vouvalis, Andy Harris, Jim Lamuth

Making Connections

Chapter 14, “The Mentoring Program as a Research Project,” helps stakeholders, program coordinators, and researchers distinguish the differences and similarities between program evaluation and program research. If stakeholders choose to include program research, they will need approval from their university’s institutional review board (IRB). Therefore, the second section of this chapter helps stakeholders navigate the IRB. The third section of this chapter describes how theoretical frameworks, operational definitions of mentoring, and methodological designs factor into mentoring programs that contain research. While all formal mentoring programs in academia should include theoretical frameworks, operational definitions, and sound methodology, many do not. The …

Chapter 5- Needs Assessment And Data Analytics: Understanding Your Constituencies, Neal Legler

Making Connections

Needs assessment is an important early step in the development of a mentoring program because it helps ensure that program resources go toward improving prioritized institutional results. Needs assessment should involve key stakeholders, organized into a needs assessment committee, and then follow a systematic process to collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data and identify existing organizational needs. Needs are defined as the gap between desired organizational results and current results. They should be considered holistically and at all levels of the organization. As needs are identified, the needs assessment committee works with stakeholders through a combination of group management …

Chapter 4- Formal Mentoring Programs: Characteristics, Benefits, And Outcomes, Rachel Arocho, Benjamin A. Johnson

Making Connections

In this chapter, we review the characteristics of mentoring that distinguish so-called formal from informal mentoring opportunities. Through this discussion, we provide a broad view of what could be formalized and how to distinguish these opportunities. We then turn to a discussion of the observed and anticipated benefits of formalized mentoring (and some benefits of mentoring broadly) and provide an argument for why mentoring, with all its recognized importance and impact at multiple levels, should not be left to chance. By formalizing mentoring opportunities and practices, to varying and customizable degrees, programs and institutions stand to distribute the benefits of …

Chapter 8- Outlining The Goals, Objectives, And Outcomes Of The Mentoring Program, Lisa Z. Fain, Jamie Crites

Making Connections

Even when institutions already have a mentoring culture, a mentoring program is not an end in itself. Rather, mentoring is a tool to achieve a broader outcome, be it at the institutional, department, or individual level. While these outcomes may vary, it is critical that a mentoring program is carefully crafted in service of the outcomes. It must meet the needs and objectives of not only the mentees and mentors but also the institutions and the field. In this chapter, authors Lisa Fain and Jamie Crites will use a case study to discuss how to craft goals, and objectives that …

Chapter 12- A New Vision For Promoting Equity And Inclusion In Academic Mentoring Programs, Assata Zerai, Nancy López

Making Connections

What are the pitfalls of conventional student, faculty, and staff mentoring programs? Despite good intentions, how might they negatively impact Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), as well as other marginalized faculty who are women, LGBTQIA+, Persons with Disabilities (PWD), or first-generation college students (e.g., grew up in household where no parent/legal guardian earned a four-year college degree in the United States or abroad)? How could employing an intersectional framework—attention to the simultaneity of systems of oppression and resistance—as inquiry and praxis transform student, faculty, and staff mentoring programs? This chapter examines the challenges and possibilities for advancing equity …

Chapter 19- The Connections Program: Integrating Mentoring Into The First-Year Experience, Jennifer Grewe, Harrison Kleiner

Making Connections

In this chapter, we will offer a model of successful integration of evidence-based mentorship practices within a robust first-year experience program at Utah State University. The mentoring aspect of the program was built to address the problem of attrition rates of first-year students transitioning to the second year. This approach provides faculty mentoring for every student in the program and addresses how it can be scaled to a large student population. We will discuss how the most at-risk students receive extra focus within this model to help students who lack the educational and social capital to gain mentorship experiences on …

Chapter 11- Preparing The Effective Mentee, Dionne Clabaugh

Making Connections

The purpose of this chapter is to help the mentoring program director create, implement, and evaluate academic mentoring programs after identifying structures that can effectively prepare their mentors and mentees for a successful mentoring experience. Some of the considerations explored are mentor program structures that are relationally based, goal-oriented, and grounded in autonomy supportive strategies. This chapter opens with the author’s lens in order to describe a human development approach to mentoring and then how to prepare mentees to be self-directed. The third section portrays mentoring program structures that promote self-directed mentees. This chapter concludes with generalizable findings and recommendations …

Chapter 3- Cultivating Diverse Forms And Functions Of Mentoring Relationships Within Academia, Audrey J. Murrell, Gloria O. Onosu

Making Connections

While mentoring is shown to have several positive benefits within academia, it is necessary to focus on the range of different high-quality relationships that are a necessary yet complex aspect of mentoring relationships. Thus, mentoring represents a complex, dynamic, and diverse range of mutually beneficial developmental relationships across diverse functions (career and psychosocial) and types (hierarchical, peer, group, and reverse) of mentoring. The impact of mentoring within academia demonstrates that these relationships are essential for developing a wide range of knowledge, skills, and abilities and developing social relationships and networks that are significant for learning, development, success, and well-being. Our …

Chapter 29- Conclusion, David Law, Nora Domínguez

Making Connections

Too often, formal mentoring programs are started at universities without thinking through and addressing the details needed for the program to succeed. As stated at the beginning, the primary purpose of this handbook is to provide a “one-stop shop” resource that guides program coordinators to be intentional and effective in designing, implementing, evaluating, sustaining, and funding their academic mentoring program. In this concluding section, we describe how this book’s chapters and case studies connect to form a comprehensive guide for program coordinators and other stakeholders. Making the chapter’s interconnections explicit makes a needed contribution to the mentoring field, particularly as …

Chapter 2- Recognizing Mentoring Program Identity And Applying Theoretical Frameworks For Design, Support, And Research, Mark J. Hager, Kim Hales, Nora Domínguez

Making Connections

Mentoring programs in academic settings take multiple forms depending on the population being served, the context in which they develop, and the purpose and outcomes to be achieved. This chapter identifies critical variables in choosing a solid theoretical foundation for designing effective mentoring programs and interventions in academia.

This chapter specifically addresses four clusters of theoretical frameworks that include psychosocial supports for mentoring, mentoring as a learning partnership, mentoring as career support, and developmental network theories that can be applied to careers.

This chapter is broken into four distinct sections. The first section outlines the process of identifying key components …

Chapter 26- Staff Mentoring And Development At Arizona State University, Karen Engler-Weber

Making Connections

Most university structures provide extensive mentoring and support for students and faculty, but the mentoring of university staff is often a neglected area within university systems, despite the clear need to support staff professional development, career advancement, and retention. At Arizona State University (ASU), the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) has developed an extensive university-wide staff mentoring and development program model that pairs staff mentees with mentors, providing the space and opportunity for mentees to identify their strengths and consider their long-term career trajectory at ASU. Through mentoring, participants learn more about specific skills, university areas, and career …