Legitimacy has been used to understand institutional and faculty behaviors within higher education contexts. Faculty members frequently apply the concept of professional legitimacy to their work, such as publishing and teaching. Few studies have considered how legitimacy is enacted when advising undergraduate students about graduate education.…

An increasing number of community colleges have expanded their programmatic offerings to include baccalaureate degrees. Given the representation of low-income students and Students of Color in community college, increased credential requirements for professions that once required only a bachelor's degree, and the benefits of graduate education,…

We explore how race and gender shape graduate students' perceptions of their advisors. We find evidence that women of color and students in the biological/physical sciences report significantly less support than other groups. Our findings speak to the utility of the intersectionality framework for examining interpersonal relations in higher…

The transition to independent scholar is part and parcel of the doctoral education process (Council of Graduate Schools, 2005) as well as an integral part of the socialization process that occurs while in graduate school (Weidman, Twale, & Stein, 2001). This article details the journey toward independence, rooted in the socialization process of…

The developmental issues associated with advisor-advisee relationships in graduate education are discussed with a focus on the creation of developmental settings. The advisor's relationship with the student and the academic and professional setting, and the advisee's relationship with the advisor and the academic and larger community settings are…

This study examined the experiences of 22 women in advisory relationships with women dissertation committee members. Mentoring relationships became professional friendships, while nonmentoring relationships were marked by silent betrayals. Both phenomena were elucidated when advisees' recollections were compared with memories of mother-daughter…

A phenomenological study investigated 22 women doctoral recipients' perceptions of power and sexual issues in their relationships with male advisors. Variations in adviser style were also examined. How cross-gender advisement teams in the study dealt with these issues discriminated effective from ineffective mentoring relationships. (Author/MSE)

A framework for examining the ethical responsibilities of both graduate school faculty and students is based on five principles: autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, justice, and fidelity. It is intended to encourage discussion of the responsibilities of graduate education and professional development. (Author/MLW)

Studies indicate that doctoral programs do not provide students with optimal conditions for creative scholarship in research. Understandings of the nature of creative behavior in scientific endeavors are examined and related to the practice of advising doctoral candidates during the dissertation-research phase of their work. (Author/MLW)

Developed the Postgraduate Research Experience Questionnaire (PREQ) to measure the extent to which Australian Ph.D. and postgraduate students are satisfied with their research supervision. Evaluated the usefulness of these student evaluations for benchmarking across universities and disciplines. Found that the evaluations did not vary…

A study of 112 tenure-track university faculty found that maturity of personal and professional goals and self-assurance about personal competence correlated positively with better teaching evaluations and more numerous and comfortable advising relationships. The latter was also related positively to realistic self-appraisal. (Author/MSE)

Advisors (n=596) of doctoral students at a large research university were surveyed about their perceptions of the characteristics, content, and purpose of the doctoral dissertation. Respondents indicated that the dissertation continues to play an essential role in doctoral education, although notable field-related differences were found in…

A taxonomy of power (coercive, expert, legitimate, referent, reward) was used to investigate graduate students' (n=346) perceptions of their supervising professors' power and the relationship between professors' power and various students' perceptions, intentions, and behaviors. Results show that faculty power bases are related to several…