Peer Mentoring Program Survivability: How Programs React When Bad Things Happen

Higher education is constantly changing. People who work to support students must keep up with those changes. One avenue of student support is peer mentoring programs. Peer mentoring programs are a low-cost option for supporting students, and there is a lot of research about how they are valuable and effective. There is not a lot of research on how those who lead these peer mentoring programs (administrators) overcome challenges to keep running their programs effectively. This study explores how administrators of engineering peer mentoring programs, particularly those supporting women in engineering, adapt to constant changes in higher education. By interviewing five different engineering peer mentoring program administrators situated in women in engineering support centers, I compared and contrasted across them to identify the key challenges administrators face and the strategies they use to address them. The findings reveal that challenges come from inside and outside their organizations, falling into seven main categories across two domains. The results shows that it is all about the people or stakeholders—including students, funders, university leadership, and the public—that is crucial for program survival. Program administrators must carefully balance institutional requirements, legal considerations, and their core values while operating with limited resources. I find that threats to program longevity that impact all programs include the loss of resources. For women in engineering programs specifically, evolving legal landscapes present added complexities. This study highlights the central role administrators play in sustaining these valuable student support programs. The findings provide practical guidance for administrators facing similar challenges and contribute to our understanding of how student support programs can remain effective despite higher education constantly changing.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Engineering Education

Department dc:contributor.department

Engineering Education

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Geary, Carol Pauline

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Matusovich, Holly

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Lee, Walter Curtis
• Mondisa, Joi-Lynn
• Knight, David B.

• Mentorship
• Peer Mentoring
• Program Sustainability

Statement dc:rights

• Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:44355

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/136125