Mentoring Graduate Students: A Study on Academic Rejection, the Pressure to Publish, and Career Paths

Abstract

Within the academic context, mentoring is a positive and ongoing relationship between a professor and student that fosters academic growth and accomplishment. Thus, mentors are crucial for graduate students in both masters and doctoral programs. Currently, there is a lack of research regarding mentorship, especially when it involves common obstacles that a student may experience such as academic rejection, the pressure to publish scholarly work, and career conversations post-graduate school. Academic rejection refers to the act of receiving a rejection for a scholarly task such as a rejection notice for a manuscript, award, grant, or even employment. Accordingly, the current study aims to qualitatively explore academic rejection, the pressure to publish, and career conversations post-graduate school using a convenience sample of 75 current faculty members who are appointed to a criminology and criminal justice department at a university or college. Themes related to academic rejection, the pressure to publish, and career conversations are discussed, as well as the implications of these themes are further discussed.

Keywords:

• Advising
• rejection
• mentoring
• publication

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to extend their appreciation to each faculty member who participated in this research. Without their helpful advice, this project would not be possible.

Ethics

This study was approved by the Mars Hill University Institutional Review Board.

Disclosure Statement

There are no known financial or non-financial conflicts of interests to declare.

Funding

The authors did not utilize any funding to aid in the completion of this manuscript.

Notes

1 To participate in the study, respondents must have been current professors or instructors appointed at a CCJ department at a university or college. While respondents were required to be appointed to a CCJ department, they could be housed under a larger discipline such as public policy, public affairs, or sociology. Respondents were only eligible to participate in the current study if they had experience in mentoring graduate students.

2 It is quite possible that the survey did not reach every intended member of our sample, or it may have reached the same person several times if they are a member of multiple division listservs. In addition, it is possible that the timing of the survey may have influenced participation, as the survey was open for about a month during April and May, commonly two of the busiest months of the semester for faculty members

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kaitlyn B. Hoover

Kaitlyn B. Hoover is currently a fourth-year doctoral student at Florida State University pursuing her doctorate in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Her research interests include the consequences of family member incarceration, homicide, the death penalty, and mental health both in academia and in the criminal justice system.

Kweilin T. Lucas

Kweilin T. Lucas is an Assistant Professor in the Criminal Justice Department at Mars Hill University. Her research interests include criminological theory, interpersonal violence, victimology, cybercrime, and corrections.