Mentoring as Professional Development for African American Ph.D. Students Pursuing the Professoriate

Introduction The graduate experience is the first stage of a graduate student's academic career. Critics argue that doctoral students are a) educated and trained too narrowly; b) lack professional, organizational, and managerial skills; c) are ill prepared to teach; d ) are ill informed about employment outside academia; and e) have a too long transition period from PhD completion to stable employment (Nerad, 2004). The narrowness of the doctoral education curriculum does not generally provide training in pedagogy and limits opportunities for graduate students to teach (Wolyniak, 2003). Golde and Dore (2001) contend that "research is the dominate focus of the doctorate, and it defines the life of most research university faculty, but it is not the primary work activity of most faculty at American colleges" (p. 23). As a result, the highly specialized forms of research that has dominated doctoral education may no longer respond to the needs of both society and students (Wolyniak, 2003). Mentoring is defined as "a form of professional socialization whereby a more experienced (usually older) individual acts as a guide, role model, teacher and patron of a less experienced (often younger) [mentee such that the] aim of the relationship is [to] further [the] development and refinement of the [mentee's] skills, abilities, and understanding" (Galbraith, 2001, p. 31). It serves as a means of improving student and faculty relations, professional enhancements, and faculty development. As higher education and responsibilities of faculty become more complex, professional development mentoring is a training mechanism that can be used to assist new faculty in meeting an expanding set of expectations required for faculty. The professional development mentoring experience can be characterized as a "process-oriented relationship [that involves] knowledge acquisition, application and critical reflection" (Zachary, 2000, p. 4). The faculty mentor provides critical advice to students by identifying experiences and opportunities that contribute to their transition into the professoriate. These experiences and opportunities may include serving as a teaching assistant, developing a course with course syllabi and exams, attending faculty meetings, reviewing academic governance systems, interviewing faculty, mentoring undergraduate students, serving on a faculty steering committee, serving on a campus committee as a representative for the department, as well as conducting, presenting and publishing research such that at least one article is published with the mentor. In this study, the researchers examined the professional development mentoring experiences of Me Knight Doctoral Fellow (MDF) Program and Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Doctoral Scholars graduates employed as faculty in the American higher education system. The Florida Education Fund established the MDF Program in 1984 with the aim of increasing the number of African Americans earning Ph.D. degrees, especially in the fields where African American are underrepresented (Morehouse and Dawkins, 2006). Fellows are selected from a national pool of applicants who have been accepted to a doctoral program at any of the nine participating Florida universities: Florida AM therefore, the program is funded in part by participating states and is contingent upon university support. …