The importance of mentorship in higher education: An introduction to the symposium

“Mentoring: a process for the informal transmission of knowledge, social capital, and psychosocial support perceived by the recipient as relevant to work, career, or professional development; mentoring entails informal communication, usually face-to-face and during a sustained period of time, between a person who is perceived to have greater relevant knowledge, wisdom, or experience (the mentor) and a person who is perceived to have less (the protégé).”

~ Bozeman & Feeney, 2007 p. 731

Mentorship plays a crucial role in the development of both graduate students and faculty members (Meier, 2023). For graduate students, mentorship offers valuable emotional support during the highly stressful phases of their academic journey, with long-lasting effects on their careers (Alshayhan et al., 2023; Hummel & Hersey, 2023). Faculty members also benefit significantly from mentorship, experiencing higher career satisfaction (Luna & Cullen, 1995), increased research output (Fountain & Newcomer, 2016), and greater satisfaction throughout the promotion and tenure process (Ashley et al., 2023). Mentorship is a well-established practice (Fowler, 2022), extensively explored in the literature across various disciplines, examining different types, purposes, motivations, and benefits (Bozeman & Feeney, 2009; Bozionelos, 2004; Chaos et al., 1992; Farrell et al., 2022; Kram, 1985).

However, mentorship in public affairs education is still evolving in terms of its theoretical framework and contextual relevance (Aoki et al., 2022; Bozeman & Feeney, 2007). Recent literature acknowledges that mentorship in public affairs is dynamic, lacking a one-size-fits-all approach (Ashley et al., 2023; Ding & Riccucci, 2022; Evans et al., 2023). Individuals from diverse backgrounds seek varied forms of mentorship for different reasons, often utilizing different strategies (Azevedo et al., 2023; McCandless et al., 2022). More research is needed to fine-tune mentoring relationships and practices in this field to better cater to the needs of both mentors and mentees.

The nascent nature of the public affairs discipline (McDonald et al., 2022), coupled with its relatively small size, results in a limited pool of mentors (Young & Wiley, 2021), particularly for individuals not traditionally represented in academia (Menifield et al., 2023). The representation of women faculty (Morgan et al., 2021) and Black faculty (Menifield et al., 2023) diminishes as rank increases, especially within public affairs education (Todoran, 2023). This shortage of mentors from underrepresented populations places a heavier burden on those who have succeeded, leading to increased emotional labor and burnout (Diggs et al., 2023; Rinfret et al., 2022, 2023). While mentorship can be a powerful tool for increasing equity by boosting minority representation in higher education, it cannot rely solely on the shoulders of the few who have painstakingly carved out this path.

This special issue is dedicated entirely to mentorship within public affairs education, with the hope that it will serve as a cornerstone for the field. The issue showcases seven seminal studies on mentorship in public affairs education, addressing a wide array of topics and perspectives. In the first article, Todoran (2023) examines the role of formal and informal mentoring in public affairs faculty members’ career development and research productivity, with special consideration of gender and racial factors. The author uses a longitudinal matched survey to test whether different genders and races benefit from informal mentoring differently. The study finds that formal mentoring programs benefit early career faculty, women, and those from racially under-represented groups, but these groups still face challenges in increasing their research efforts. Informal mentoring, on the other hand, particularly benefits mid and late-career faculty across all demographics. The author recommends instituting more intentional and diverse formal mentoring programs, promoting gender and racial diversity in higher academic ranks, providing mentoring opportunities at various career stages, and fostering a culture of mentorship within institutions.

Next, Evans et al. (2023) interviewed 25 public administration faculty, students, and practitioners and then used qualitative thematic analysis to explore the importance of intersectionality in mentorship. The authors raise questions about how mentorship aligns with the diverse intersectionalities of students and faculty and suggest that not all participants fully understand or experience intersectional mentoring. It highlights the importance of considering individual attributes and experiences when creating mentorship relationships, and advocating for a broader network of mentors to address changing needs throughout one’s career.

In the third article, Azevedo et al. (2023) discuss the importance of mentoring in academia, particularly focusing on the mentoring needs of women faculty in public administration programs. A mixed-method survey of 122 full-time faculty at NASPAA accredited programs found that women faculty often prioritize psychosocial components over career components in mentoring relationships and emphasizes the need for equitable and inclusive mentoring programs tailored to the unique needs of women faculty. The study also suggests that mentoring programs should consider external resources and mentoring networks and explore the specific needs of non-tenure-track faculty and adjuncts.

Diggs et al. (2023) discuss the specific challenges faced by faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), particularly Women of Color (WOC) faculty, in providing effective mentoring due to resource limitations and a lack of institutional support. The study utilizes a collaborative autoethnography approach triangulated with program data. The authors detail how, even though HBCUs excel in mentoring students, the faculty’s responsibilities are often underemphasized and influenced by past experiences, role definitions, and institutional expectations. The authors emphasize the need to recognize mentorship’s role in HBCUs and call for more research to address issues related to faculty mentorship, especially for WOC faculty members. The article also underscores the importance of equitable mentorship and support for faculty to foster student success within HBCUs, calling for reevaluating institutional standards to value mentoring as a visible academic service.

Ashley et al. (2023) present a case of Boise State University’s School of Public Service (SPS) innovative approach to mentoring in the context of promotion and tenure reviews. The SPS Mentoring Policy combines formative and summative evaluation mechanisms to promote faculty retention and success, build a collaborative culture, address conflicting policies, and increase transparency in faculty career progression. The study utilizes focus group data to assess the unique SPS Mentoring Policy. It offers valuable insights for other academic institutions seeking to integrate mentoring with evaluation systems and adapt to their institutional cultures. The study highlights the benefits of the SPS Mentoring Policy to tenure-track faculty, specifically in supporting diverse faculty and fostering an interdisciplinary environment.

The sixth article, by Alshayhan et al. (2023), examines career mentoring for graduate students in public administration from both the perspective of student demand and faculty supply. The authors conducted 15 in-depth semi-structured interviews with public administration graduate students and nine more interviews with their faculty mentors. The thematic analysis uncovered the high level of diversity in students’ career mentoring needs, emphasizing the importance of tailored mentoring. The study identifies common themes and suggests that while faculty can play a supportive role in mentoring, there are gaps between student demand and faculty supply that need to be addressed to improve the effectiveness of career mentoring in public administration graduate programs.

In the final article, Hummel and Hersey (2023) utilize a survey of current and former MPA students to explore the integration of mentoring into a fully online MPA program. The authors investigate the challenges associated with mentoring in fully online programs and use the Ideal Mentor Scale to assess the significance of various mentorship qualities. The study suggests that effective mentors are vital in helping students attain the competencies NASPAA standards require. The study found that mentors who value and respect the mentee as individuals and provide a calm and collected role model are important components of a successful mentor–mentee relationship.

Importance of mentorship

Mentorship is essential for personal and professional development within higher education. As a result, we need to continue to investigate its relevance and impact. Our series, as stated previously, examines the role of mentorship through the lens of public administration. As a discipline, public administration makes a concerted effort to connect theory to practice by training future and current public service professionals. The authors in this article series suggest key thematic takeaways as to why mentorship matters. Specifically, we suggest that the articles, as a collective, suggest mentorship matters because it actively encourages faculty to pay it forward, advancing opportunities for students and faculty, focusing on the development of our students, and pushing us to consider how we can use mentorship to work in a diverse and changing society. We take each area in turn.

Pay it forward, focus on students and faculty

A common theme across the articles in this series articulates that mentorship supports the advancement of our students or pre-tenured faculty. Alyshahan et al. (2023) strongly suggest that public administration mentorship is essential for career guidance for graduate students. Hummel and Hersey (2023) posit that effective mentorship is necessary for a fully online MPA program, and we have evolved as a field in successful approaches.

Success for students should also be replicated by faculty. Diggs et al. (2023) and Ashley et al. (2023) provide insight into how mentorship retains faculty. For example, Ashley et al.’s (2023) case study is ripe for replication. Using their university, (Boise State University’s School of Public Affairs), they offer a beneficial approach to mentoring pre-tenured faculty through their promotion and tenure evaluation process. Notably, a formal mentorship process invests in the success and retention of faculty. By comparison, Diggs et al. (2023) argue that faculty success drives student success at HBCUs, which would not be successful without mentorship.

Diversification

We cannot forget that mentorship can be seen through a White-centric or male-dominated lens. Azevedo et al. (2023), find mentorship is gendered, leaving women receiving unequal access to mentorship due to toxic workplace environments. Furthermore, Evans et al. (2023) remind us that mentorship should apply an intersectional lens. If not, “mentoring from individuals without similar lived experiences or shared attributes may be less effective in that the support offered by the mentor may not be what the mentee actually needs” (p. 437). Todoran (2023) reiterates that a faculty member’s race or gender does affect the mentorship a person receives—formal or informal. Therefore, mentorship can fall short if we do not consider various factors to work in a diverse and changing workforce successfully.

Conclusion

Mentorship is important to helping our students succeed in their graduate programs and obtain employment after graduation. It is also important as a tool for supporting colleagues, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds. During a doctoral program, students are mentored by their faculty advisors in conducting and engaging in research. This mentorship intends to produce faculty who are capable of conducting research that answers the grand questions of their generation. Yet, doctoral students receive little mentorship on the realities of academic life, and what little mentorship there is often goes away after graduation. As scholars interested in the development of our field, we have seen colleagues struggle, resulting in mental health issues, burnout, and an exodus from academia. We have heard the talk from our institutions about the potential role mentorship could play to address this struggle. Yet, there is very little movement toward addressing the absence of mentorship within public administration education.

The development of this symposium on mentorship in higher education is not intended to be a final answer. Instead, the symposium is intended to help develop our understanding of mentorship, highlight its importance, and hopefully progress the discussion forward. We encourage you to read the articles, think deeply about their messages, and ask yourself what you can do to help mentor those in need.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).