Mentoring is often described as having significant positive effects on the retention and advancement of faculty. The survey asked tenure-track faculty and faculty tenured after 2001 whether they had or have a faculty mentor at their current institution. Among tenure-track faculty, 49 percent of the men and 57 percent of the women reported having a faculty mentor—a difference approaching significance. Among recently tenured faculty, 45 percent of the men and 51 percent of the women reported having a faculty mentor, which was not statistically significant. Disaggregated by field with tenure-track and recently tenured faculty combined (Figure 4-6), women were more likely to report having a mentor in electrical engineering and physics (see Appendix 4-17). Mentoring appears to be becoming more popular, and mentoring programs are spreading to more univer — sities.[75] Thus, it is discouraging to find that only between half and two-thirds of
0 25 50 75 100
Percent Below Neutral Point of Scaled Factor (negative feelings)
younger faculty have mentors in their home institutions. This does not seem to differ very much by discipline.