Mentoring and Socialization of Future Senior Student Affairs Officers

Abstract

Little research has been conducted on the academic preparation of Senior Student Affairs Officers (SSAOs). This study investigates the perceptions of mentoring relationships between faculty mentors and their doctoral student protégés who were in training to become SSAOs. Kram’s (1985) theory, identifying psychosocial and career aspects of mentoring in organizational development, examines these relationships. Given the findings, a stronger emphasis upon the SSAO applied theory component of the doctoral program is recommended in multiple ways