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Faculty Mentorship and Research Productivity, Salary, and Job Satisfaction

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Conference

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Location

Virtual Conference

Publication Date

July 26, 2021

Start Date

July 26, 2021

End Date

July 19, 2022

Conference Session

Faculty Development 3: Research, Practice, and Lessons Learned

Tagged Division

Faculty Development Division

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

21

DOI

10.18260/1-2--37183

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/37183

Download Count

583

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Paper Authors

biography

Li Tan Purdue University, West Lafayette

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Li Tan is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University.

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biography

Joyce B. Main Purdue University, West Lafayette Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-3984-533X

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Joyce B. Main is Associate Professor of Engineering Education at Purdue University. She received an Ed.M. in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Ph.D. degree in Learning, Teaching, and Social Policy from Cornell University. Dr. Main examines student academic pathways and transitions to the workforce in science and engineering. She was a recipient of the 2014 American Society for Engineering Education Educational Research and Methods Division Apprentice Faculty Award, the 2015 Frontiers in Education Faculty Fellow Award, and the 2019 Betty Vetter Award for Research from WEPAN. In 2017, Dr. Main received a National Science Foundation CAREER award to examine the longitudinal career pathways of engineering PhDs.

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Abstract

Studies have shown that mentorship is critical to the career and professional development of workers, including postsecondary faculty. Evidence from the literature on faculty-to faculty mentorship have generally focused on the medical field or on the higher education institution where the study was conducted. This study extends the literature by examining data from faculty across multiple institutions and across fields using the Early Career Doctorates Survey (ECDS). Guided by a theoretical framework adapted from Higgins and Kram (2001), multiple linear regression models are applied to investigate which factors are associated with mentorship attainment, and how mentorship of faculty is associated with faculty productivity and job satisfaction. In contrast to previous literature, results indicate that women and racially minoritized faculty have similar likelihood of reporting having a formal/informal mentor compared to men and White colleagues, respectively. Furthermore, receiving mentorship does not appear to be associated with increased productivity or job satisfaction, but is associated with a 10% higher salary for faculty who reported having a mentor. These results, however, are limited to observable outcomes, and the benefits to mentoring may extend beyond that to include well-being, sense of belonging, and other variables not measured in the dataset. Overall, research findings contribute to existing efforts and ongoing conversations on faculty mentorship by offering additional evidence from a nationally representative sample, providing a benchmark for individual institutions to evaluate their professional development programs for faculty.

Tan, L., & Main, J. B. (2021, July), Faculty Mentorship and Research Productivity, Salary, and Job Satisfaction Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--37183

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