Storying our academic career transitions within a peer-mentoring community

Abstract

Careers in academia entail multiple transitions, which may also involve new places, new roles, new colleagues, new opportunities, and new challenges. In this chapter, we describe how our engagement in an informal peer mentoring group consisting of faculty members in science and mathematics education supported our various academic transitions during the early years of our careers. Through the construction and reconstruction of our personal narratives we identify, analyze, and abstract themes related to our transitions. Three themes emerged from the analysis of our narratives: support in navigating uncertainty and complexity, providing a venue for collegiality and collaboration, and supporting our professional identity development. These findings highlight the importance of alternative spaces for faculty to access mentoring and support as they navigate these academic transitions.