The purpose of this qualitative, narratological research was to gain a deeper understanding of the stories of three African American counselor educators who experienced research mentorship as counseling students and faculty members while working towards tenure. The three participants were employed as assistant professors in CACREP-accredited counselor education graduate programs provided their perspectives of research mentorship. The primary research question for my research was: How do pre-tenured African American female counselor educators perceive their research mentorship experiences? The foundation for my study was provided by the review of literature focused on critical race theory, marginalized groups in academe, mentorship among specific populations, and research mentorship Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The transcribed interviews, vitas, and faculty profiles were analyzed by within-case and cross-case analysis. The findings indicated seven super-ordinate themes. 1) Benefits of Research Mentorship, 2) Social Racial Membership with Other Forms of Marginalization, 3) Professional Networking/Support, 4) Perceptions of Institutional Climate and Culture, 5) Perceptions of Research Mentoring Experiences, 6) Barriers of Research Mentorship, and 7) Behaviors that Foster Effective Research Mentoring. Implications for students and counselor educators along with recommendations for future research are presented. Personal reflections of the researcher are provided.

According to the Center for American Progress, women make up 52% of all professional-level jobs, however, they only make up 14.6% of executive officers, 8.1% of top salary earners, and only 4.6% of Fortune 500 CEOs. Considering this disparity in leadership, it brings to question if women are generally taking on leadership throughout their lives. The purpose of this study was to examine how mentorship affects first-time female freshmen’s willingness to take on leadership opportunities. Data were collected from three mentees and three mentors through an initial interest survey, semi-structured personal interviews, and the 3D Wisdom Scale Assessment. Data were analyzed using a ground theory approach which consisted of open, axial, and selective coding; leading to a discursive set of theoretical propositions. Interviews focused on the mentee’s experience through the mentorship program, and the mentor’s perspective of the mentorship program on their mentees. Additionally, the 3D Wisdom Scale developed was utilized to evaluate growth in wisdom dimensions which directly correlated to personal construct corollaries. The findings of the study included: 1) The mentees and mentors expressed growth in their self-esteem and self-confidence. This increase in self-awareness led to a willingness to take risk and face potential failure; 2) Leadership development took place on several levels; 3) The mentees had a realization of the impact of their gender; 4) Two-thirds of the mentees showed a substantial understanding and practice in all three of respective corollaries; and 5) The mentees and mentors displayed general development and growth. The substantive theory that emerged from this grounded theory study was: ‘Through proper mentorship, a first-time female freshman’s’ self-esteem and willingness to take on leadership opportunities will increase.’ Unlike the majority of upperclassmen who have had a mentor, all of the freshmen participating never had a mentor prior to their participation in the program. Mentors played a substantial role in the development of these freshmen and their willingness to take on leadership opportunities. Recommendations for further research include a longitudinal study examining if these freshmen continue to involve themselves in leadership opportunities throughout their college career.

While fraternity and sorority life continues to make headlines and is called upon regularly to validate the purpose it holds to remain on college campuses today, many still believe that when fraternity and sorority are done right, it is one of the best opportunities on college campuses today outside of the classroom. Much of their success is due to the efforts and support of the fraternity and sorority life professionals. This dissertation will offer the first Scholarly Personal Narrative of a mid-level, seasoned, fraternity and sorority life professional working in higher education. Current research shows the average age of a fraternity and sorority life professional is twenty-seven and over half the professionals have been at their place of employment for two years or less. I will explore my own personal journey over the last twelve years with hopes of finding meaning in this uncommon career path and explore where resilience and passion resulted in professional longevity.

Academic entitlement is a concern in higher education because of the potential societal and market driven influences on credible scholarship. Most of the research has focused on negative attitudes and behaviors attributed to students. The considerations of tenured professors who interact with academically entitled students and strategies for effective classroom management has not been fully explored. Constructivism provided the theoretical framework for the qualitative case study. Data were collected from open-ended, semistructured interviews with a purposeful sample of 10 tenured professors from a state college in the Southeastern United States to explore (a) the meanings participants attributed to academic entitlement, (b) how those meanings affected their decision-making, and (c) the ramifications of those decisions for classroom management. Data were analyzed through descriptive, InVivo, and patterns coding. Findings indicated that although academic entitlement is a consequence of cultural practices, professors can alter the perception of academically entitled students with an adherence to robust classroom policies and self-reflection to mitigate enablement of the behavior. Findings were used to create a professional development mentorship program for new full-time professors designed to promote self-reflective practices and individualized management considerations to cultivate classroom management skills and improve student learning and retention. New faculty without exposure to academic entitlement might face unanticipated challenges when managing classrooms. An awareness from the experiences of colleagues who instructed academically entitled students will benefit new educators by providing insights to promote stronger classroom management and result in culturally positive social changes.

Nurses comprise the largest segment of the healthcare workforce. Adequate numbers of nurses help to ensure sufficient and safe nursing care in all settings. The current nursing shortage poses a barrier to optimum nursing care, and the nature of recruitment and retention of nurses has generated research interest because of its association with the labor shortage. The purpose of the project was to develop a nurse mentorship program for possible adoption by a northern state correctional facility. Goals are to aid recruitment and improve retention of nurses in the facility. This quality improvement project was informed by Jean Watson's theory of transpersonal caring. Program development was guided by a team of interdisciplinary stakeholders in the institution, including a nurse educator, institutional directors of both education and nursing departments, and senior staff nurses who agreed agreeing to function as project coordinators. The peer-reviewed literature and institutional contexts informed program conceptualization and planning for implementation and planning. A series of meetings were held in which the project team explored and discussed available evidence relative to institutional context and needs. The primary product of the project was a mentoring program, and secondary products include plans for implementation and evaluation of that program by the institution in the future as part of a broader institutional initiative. The developed program was shared with 5 nurse scholars with relevant expertise as a content validation process, with revisions made in accordance with feedback. The implementation and evaluation plans include all details necessary for operationalizing as well as evaluating merit and worth of the program over time.

Despite the enduring relative popularity of teaching as a career, the research literature on teacher preparation suggests that there is growing concern about the state of the field. With each passing year, the demographic realities within k-12 classrooms bring new challenges for the teacher preparation enterprise. Shortages in high need communities and increasing numbers of provisionally certified (or uncertified) teachers represent two areas of concern. Notwithstanding the extraordinarily increasing cultural and linguistic diversity now found among the student population, the teacher population has failed to diversify in kind. The number of new teachers who are ill-prepared to respond to this "demographic imperative" is a glaring cause for concern. This study represents the author's attempt to contribute to this important discourse by studying a cohort of individuals who recently completed a teacher preparation program and started to apply what they learned in their first professional teaching position. The purpose of this research study is twofold. First, the researcher uses phenomenological research methods to investigate the first-year teaching experience. Through a series of interviews, he explores the participants' expectations, experiences, and reflections in order to distill the essence of the phenomenon. Second, the researcher examines the connections between the culturally responsive pedagogical competencies developed during teacher preparation and their attempts to implement the practices in their new classrooms. Analysis of the data showed that the essence of the first-year teaching experience featured the influence of the following: relationships with students, lessons learned through experience, importance of support and mentorship, and the negotiation of challenges. Analysis of their attempts to apply culturally responsive pedagogy revealed their intentions to implement programs and principles; however these were often compromised while managing other realities of the first year experience. The study concludes with a discussion of implications for practice and possibilities for future research.

This research explored the relationship between peer mentorship and international student adjustment to life and studies in Taiwan. Questionnaires were drafted and sent to participants via email, and physically. The hypotheses explored the relationship between peer mentorship and international student adjustment to life and studies in Taiwan; informal peer mentorship vs. higher mentorship functions/satisfaction; and Taiwanese peer mentors vs. higher mentorship functions/satisfaction. Independent samples Tests were used to test the hypotheses. However, the test results did not accept any of the proposed hypotheses. Perhaps peer mentorship is not positively related to international adjustment, or perhaps the research is missing something.

ABSTRACT Beginning in 1946 fertility in Canada and other Western countries increased to rates unequaled throughout the rest of the 20th century. Sixty five years since the beginning of the baby boom, as this generation was labelled, workers are retiring or nearing retirement on scale not previously witnessed. This workforce exodus has signalled concern among scholarly, professionals and government sources alike. The public sector has been identified as particularly at risk with both and older average worker age and a low average retirement age. Within the public sector, jobs relating to the Canadian water workforce have similarly been identified for retirement concerns, specifically among senior positions. Retirements have highlighted aspects of concern for the future: knowledge leaving the workplace, and recruiting talent for the future. Among primary concerns is for knowledge that has no place in traditional documentation methods, tacit knowledge. Although transferring this knowledge presents difficulties, strategies include retaining knowledgeable employees and creating programs that facilitate knowledge exchange. Mentorship programs are one such strategy identified specifically for tacit knowledge transfer. This thesis considers how retirements would affect the water workforce including positions centred on conservation and policy efforts, as well as the water utilities industry. Although a few studies have focused on water utilities, this area of the public workforce had largely been ignored. Conducting fourteen interviews within three case study municipalities, primary data was gathered to determine how the water workforce would be affected by retirements, if retirements created concerns with respect to inter-organizational networks, and what strategies would be most suited to the needs of participating organizations.

Abstrakt Bakgrund: Det råder idag en brist på specialistutbildade sjuksköterskor, och många avslutar sin yrkeskarriär inom hälso- och sjukvården p.g.a. ökade stressnivåer. Ett sätt att komma tillrätta med detta kan vara att använda mentorskap för den nyutexaminerade. Det är därför nödvändigt att klarlägga vilka förutsättningar som krävs och även undersöka hur den nyutexaminerade specialistsjuksköterskan synes utvecklas genom mentorskap. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att utifrån den erfarna specialistsjuksköterskans uppfattning beskriva om och hur mentorskapet synes utveckla den nyutexaminerade specialistsjuksköterskan, och vilka förutsättningar som upplevs viktiga för detta mentorskap. Metod: En fallstudie medelst en djupintervju genomfördes med en fenomenografisk ansats, för att få fram den uppfattning av mentorskap som föreligger hos den erfarna specialistsjuksköterskan. Resultat: I resultatet framkommer vikten av att verksamhetsansvariga erbjuder nödvändiga förutsättningar i form av tid, utbildning och kompetens. Genom en ökad socialisering stärks yrkesprofessionen, samtidigt som en lärande miljö skapas i den gemensamma reflektionen. Konklusion: Erfarna specialistsjuksköterskor kan medverka till att den nyutexaminerade på ett så effektivt sätt som möjligt ges möjlighet att både formulera sin nya yrkesprofession och medverka till den socialisering som krävs för att komma in i arbetsgruppen. Det ses också en positiv bieffekt i form av förbättringsarbete utav mentorskapet. / Background: There is current shortage of specialized nurses, and many end their career in health care due to increased stress levels. One way to overcome this may be the use of mentoring for new graduates. In purpose of developing a mentoring program, there is a need to clarify the conditions required for it and examining how the professional role is developed through mentoring. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe experienced specialist nurse's perception if and how mentoring is developing the graduate specialist nurse, and the conditions that are perceived important for this mentoring. Method: A single case study using a deep interview was conducted with a phenomenographic approach, in order to explore the experience of mentoring from the view of the advanced specialist nurse. Results: The result shows the importance of the management providing the necessary conditions in terms of time, training and competence. In the socialization process the strengthening of the professional role was experienced, while providing a learning environment is created in the joint reflection. Conclusion: Experienced specialist nurses can assist the new graduate in the most efficient manner possible given to formulate the new role as a specialist educated nurse and also contribute to the socialization needed to get into the workgroup. A side benefit in terms of quality improvement is also seen out of the mentorship.

This case study investigates how a situated learning model can contribute to positive youth development as seen through a youth focused, community-based arts program, Creative Teen. Creative Teen is a seven-month collaborative mentorship program, which pairs twelve professional artists with twelve high school students. The partnerships work together one-on-one over the course of the program to become more knowledgeable on a given art medium and to ultimately collaborate on an artwork for the culminating Creative Teen exhibition. I sought to determine how this mentorship model would not only foster artistic development amongst youth, but how participation in the Creative Teen program would contribute to the overall development of the young adults involved. I accomplished this by limiting observational research and supplemental interviews to the interactions of one mentor partnership, Jessica and Carly. Over the course of the program, I attended their weekly meetings and watched them as they worked together to develop a large-scale installation, Lydia the Tattooed Ladies, for the culminating exhibition. Initially it was unclear to me the extent to which involvement in the Creative Teen program would have on the development of youth participants. However, through conducting this case study, I was able to identify various developmental characteristics that were cultivated through participation, which include artistic, social, and professional development. In addition to personal developmental characteristics, many practical skills were developed and exercised during the course of the Creative Teen program, which include time management, communication, financial management, public speaking, commitment to a long term project, and working with others. / text