Mentoring in and outside institutional politics, policies, and practices

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors discuss the impact of the new global society on higher education and questioned whether universities are preparing faculty, and more specifically minority and females, to meet the demands of the twentieth century. The authors recognize the continued underrepresentation of minorities and female faculty in higher education and examined it under the lenses of the historical and cultural onset of universities in USA and Australia. Using a multi-site study approach, they explored institutional politics and practices across international and geo-politically located universities (USA, Caribbean, and Australia). This investigation is based on the perspectives of institutional leaders (an under explored area within the field of mentoring research), and looked at university leaderships’ understanding of existing mentoring practices in their universities. The findings articulate the evident compatibilities and dissonances between private (institutional leadership) understandings of practice and public (institutional websites) support practices for minority and female faculty. This study brings a new perspective on faculty formal and informal mentoring in and outside institutions of higher learning.