Toward a Theory of Engineering Professorial Intentions: The Role of Research Group Experiences

Abstract

This article advances the Theoretical Model of Engineering Professorial Intentions to explain why individuals do or do not choose to pursue faculty careers. A 13-month ethnographic study of members of a diverse chemical engineering research group was conducted. The resulting theoretical model accounts for six emergent components that contribute to members' identification with faculty careers: (1) social identities and personal factors; (2) sociocultural factors; (3) participation, interactions, and learning in research group experiences; (4) faculty prototype; (5) social comparisons; and (6) AbstractThis article advances the Theoretical Model of Engineering Professorial Intentions to explain why individuals do or not choose to pursue faculty careers. A thirteen-month ethnographic study of members of a diverse chemical engineering research group was conducted. The resulting theoretical model accounts for six emergent components that contribute to members' identification with faculty careers: 1) social identities and personal factors; 2) sociocultural factors; 3) participation, interactions, and learning in research group experiences; 4) faculty prototype; 5) social comparisons; and, 6) individual and institutional experiences. The article concludes with implications for further research and recommendations regarding mentoring and design of research group experiences that may promote greater interest in and identification with the professoriate.

Broadening participation in the engineering professoriate: Influences on Allen's journey in developing professorial intentions

“…Through his observations of and interactions with the research group, Allen began forming a faculty prototype: Professor Jackson. The concept of a faculty prototype suggests that individuals identify one or more models of success in a particular domain with which to self‐assess their own performance (Blackburn & Lawrence, 1995; Burt, 2019). The faculty prototype for Allen was his standard of research competence.…”

“…These two concepts (i.e., developmental networks and professional identity development) provided theoretical guidance in this study to better understand the influence that what and how , and from whom one learns about faculty careers has in students coming to see themselves in a faculty role or not. Similarly, I (Burt, 2019) theorized that students' identification with the professoriate relates to a host of sociocultural factors, including race and gender, as well as to interactions and experiences both within and outside of graduate school. While these studies merge previous conceptions of career intentions by offering a more holistic understanding of influences on career intentions, a focus on historically underrepresented populations is still needed to improve knowledge of how to broaden participation in the professoriate.…”

“…Specific to professorial intentions, students' social identities and personal factors may influence their educational experiences and thus their interest in the professoriate. For instance, I (Burt, 2019) found that both social identities (e.g., gender, race, and marital status) and personal factors (e.g., parents' educational backgrounds and occupations, financial debt, and undergraduate cocurricular involvement) contributed to some students' professorial intentions. In one example, I found that how some students viewed themselves as potential professors (or not) related to how they made sense of their social identities relative to their perceptions of their current professors (generally White, male, married, older, with a gray beard).…”

“…For the purpose of methodological and analytical transparency, the initial focus of data collection was to observe the culture of the research group, all of its members, and the practices and activities that helped members learn (Burt, 2014(Burt, , 2017(Burt, , 2019. However, Allen emerged as a central figure within data collection because of his powerful story, illuminated through interviews and observations.…”

Nonacademic Career Pathways for Engineering Doctoral Students: An Evaluation of an NSF Research Traineeship Program

“…Berdanier et al (2020) created a model for graduate student attrition, called the GrAD model, based on Reddit posts of engineering doctoral students who were considering or had left their graduate programs. Additional research examines the experiences of engineering graduate students in research groups (Burt, 2019;Crede & Borrego, 2012), the roles of engineering graduate students as mentors in research contexts (Ahn & Cox, 2016), engineering doctoral student motivations (London et al, 2014), and socialization experiences (Mena, Diefes-Dux, & Capobianco, 2013;Szelényi, 2013). A recently published book investigated the experiences of engineering doctoral graduates post-graduation in roles in industry and academy (Cox, 2020).…”