2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Mentorship plays a critical role in shaping the preparation for future engineering faculty roles. Previous research in engineering education has examined doctoral and postdoctoral training in relation to scaffolding, coaching, guided learning, internships development, however there is paucity of literature on mentorship as a core process through which early-career engineering faculty learn the implicit norms, expectations, and practices of faculty life. This study addresses that gap by exploring how mentorship influences early-career engineering faculty preparation for various academic roles.
Guided by Cognitive Apprenticeship Theory and qualitative analysis, this study answers the research question: How do early-career engineering faculty describe the role of mentorship in shaping their preparation for academic roles? The study draws on the experiences of ten early-career engineering faculty who were recently recruited in various faculty positions across multiple U.S. institutions. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews during the spring and summer 2025 semesters and analyzed using deductive coding guided by the principles of Cognitive Apprenticeship Theory. Cognitive Apprenticeship Theory conceptualizes mentorship as a learning process in which mentors model expert academic practice, providing coaching and feedback, as well as scaffolded opportunities for participation in academic responsibilities/tasks to “mentees” to gradually foster mentees’ independence.
Participants reflected on their doctoral and postdoctoral experiences, particularly the ways in their advisors and other senior faculty members mentored them and shaped their approaches to research, teaching, and other faculty responsibilities.
Findings reveal that mentors influenced participants’ confidence, agency, and readiness to assume faculty responsibilities. This study underscores the importance of viewing mentorship not merely as supervisory support provided by advisors and senior faculty members but as a purposeful educational practice and learning process for future faculty that transcends the hidden curriculum of academia. The study concludes with implications for engineering graduate education, advocating for intentional mentor development and clearer institutional expectations for doctoral and postdoctoral mentoring aimed at preparing future faculty.