Lisa S. Bircher

Part-time Doctoral Students: Socialization Through Peer Mentorship Lisa S. Bircher

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the socialization experiences of part-time doctoral students as a result of peer mentorship. Part-time doctoral students are identified as students who are maintaining full-time employment or obligations outside of the university. The 21 participants in this study were all enrolled in a large university at the time of the study. A composite description including themes of collegiality and isolation in the participants? experiences with peer mentorship are developed. Participants experienced collegiality through nurturing mentoring, educative mentoring, dyadic co-mentoring with peers, workplace colleagues and personal friends who provided efficacious experiences as they negotiated their scholarly identity. Isolation includes feelings of being second-tier doctoral students and life getting in the way combined with feelings of negative self-efficacy. Interrelationships between the themes and subthemes are delineated. Suggestions are provided for both part-time doctoral students and their faculty in order to facilitate the process of socialization to the academy through peer mentorship.