Adjunct professors are growing in numbers across higher education institutions. There are mentor programs at many universities, but there is little research into the social aspects of mentoring relationships. The traditional format of mentor programs is a structured program between a senior faculty and a new faculty member. This qualitative study of a medium sized public university focused on mentor programs between adjunct and full-time faculty. Three research questions were addressed during the study. The first question was: what is the past experience of the participants in group mentor programs? The second question was: what characteristics were valued within the mentorship relationship? The third question was: how do social aspects of group mentoring impact adjunct and full-time professors? Data was collected by one-on-one interviews which were transcribed and then coded for themes. The interviews uncovered four themes: (1) feelings regarding group mentoring, (2) social aspects of group mentoring (3) important characteristics of group mentoring, (4) informal group mentoring. Recommendations include having more social events off campus to encourage forming relationships and to host a semester workshop on different topics.
","abstract_html":"<p>Adjunct professors are growing in numbers across higher education institutions. There are mentor programs at many universities, but there is little research into the social aspects of mentoring relationships. The traditional format of mentor programs is a structured program between a senior faculty and a new faculty member. This qualitative study of a medium sized public university focused on mentor programs between adjunct and full-time faculty. Three research questions were addressed during the study. The first question was: what is the past experience of the participants in group mentor programs? The second question was: what characteristics were valued within the mentorship relationship? The third question was: how do social aspects of group mentoring impact adjunct and full-time professors? Data was collected by one-on-one interviews which were transcribed and then coded for themes. The interviews uncovered four themes: (1) feelings regarding group mentoring, (2) social aspects of group mentoring (3) important characteristics of group mentoring, (4) informal group mentoring. Recommendations include having more social events off campus to encourage forming relationships and to host a semester workshop on different topics.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Egan, Amy Elizabeth"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Education (EdD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Education","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Michelle Collay","Brianna Parsons","Patrick Heick"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2019,"date_issued":"2019-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2019-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:21:27Z","subjects":["Educational Leadership"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://dune.une.edu/theses/248","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Michelle Collay","Brianna Parsons","Patrick Heick"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Egan, Amy Elizabeth"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-11-25T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Education"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Education (EdD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Educational Leadership"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://dune.une.edu/theses/248"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Adjunct professors are growing in numbers across higher education institutions. There are mentor programs at many universities, but there is little research into the social aspects of mentoring relationships. The traditional format of mentor programs is a structured program between a senior faculty and a new faculty member. This qualitative study of a medium sized public university focused on mentor programs between adjunct and full-time faculty. Three research questions were addressed during the study. The first question was: what is the past experience of the participants in group mentor programs? The second question was: what characteristics were valued within the mentorship relationship? The third question was: how do social aspects of group mentoring impact adjunct and full-time professors? Data was collected by one-on-one interviews which were transcribed and then coded for themes. The interviews uncovered four themes: (1) feelings regarding group mentoring, (2) social aspects of group mentoring (3) important characteristics of group mentoring, (4) informal group mentoring. Recommendations include having more social events off campus to encourage forming relationships and to host a semester workshop on different topics.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Mentors And Social Relationships: The Impact On Adjunct Professors"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Michelle Collay","Brianna Parsons","Patrick Heick"],"dc:creator":["Egan, Amy Elizabeth"],"dc:date.available":["2019-11-25T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Adjunct professors are growing in numbers across higher education institutions. There are mentor programs at many universities, but there is little research into the social aspects of mentoring relationships. The traditional format of mentor programs is a structured program between a senior faculty and a new faculty member. This qualitative study of a medium sized public university focused on mentor programs between adjunct and full-time faculty. Three research questions were addressed during the study. The first question was: what is the past experience of the participants in group mentor programs? The second question was: what characteristics were valued within the mentorship relationship? The third question was: how do social aspects of group mentoring impact adjunct and full-time professors? Data was collected by one-on-one interviews which were transcribed and then coded for themes. The interviews uncovered four themes: (1) feelings regarding group mentoring, (2) social aspects of group mentoring (3) important characteristics of group mentoring, (4) informal group mentoring. Recommendations include having more social events off campus to encourage forming relationships and to host a semester workshop on different topics.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://dune.une.edu/theses/248"],"dc:subject":["Educational Leadership"],"dc:title":["Mentors And Social Relationships: The Impact On Adjunct Professors"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Education"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Education (EdD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:21:27Z"}