Untenured Faculty: Issues of transition, adjustment and mentorship

Abstract

A needs assessment for mentoring between faculty in higher education could highlight the personal and professional needs of junior professors not being met by existing academic structures. Assessments that include the responses of untenured faculty can identify critical issues of socialisation in the effort to develop effective mentoring programmes. This study is based on the personal reflections of 60 untenured faculty working in the United States, Canada, and Australia who revealed salient aspects of their cultural adjustment. The original questionnaire probed issues of faculty socialisation in several key areas. The data are organised into themes involving criteria for gaining tenure, collegiality as collaboration and competition, and politics and the academic power structure. The data also suggest that the pre-tenure years can be analysed as early and advanced phases of adjustment.