Abstract:
Mentoring students through academic and organizational advising has proved to be a key part of student's educational success. However, expectations for mentoring students have created important discussions in the higher education community. The purpose of this descriptive study was to analyze college of agriculture faculty attitudes, needs, level of competence, and level of training in mentoring in student advisement. Results showed faculty view academic and student organization advising represented in their teaching appointments. However, faculty believed they were not provided enough time to adequately advise students and that advising was not a valued component of the promotion and tenure process. Faculty felt most competent in communicating with students and assisting their students with scheduling and in the use of online advising tools. Advisor training for faculty was rare, however few times training did occur. Faculty perceived the most important role as an undergraduate advisor was assisting students with their degree program, while faculty perceived advising graduate students on research as most important. Increasing online advising tools, allocating time to faculty, providing resources, and a Distribution of Effort (DOE) system for faculty to adequately advise students is recommended, resulting in faculty rewarded for their advising commitment in the promotion and tenure review. A mentoring program for new faculty specifically targeted at advising both undergraduate and graduate students should be implemented. Lastly, Colleges of Agriculture should more fully incorporate mentoring and advising students when mentoring graduate students who choose to enter academia as their profession.
Keywords:
mentoring, faculty, advising
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