EXISTENCE AND RELEVANCE OF MENTORING RELATIONSHIPS AMONG ADMINISTRATORS OF HOME ECONOMICS AND ENGINEERIN

Scope of Study. The purposes of the study were to determine the presence and characteristics of mentoring relationships among home economics administrators and to determine the perceived importance of the relationship in one's advancement within higher education administration. Administrators in colleges of engineering were also surveyed to provide a source of comparison. A four-part questionnaire was administered to 508 administrators in home economics and engineering with 259 total respondents. The design of the study allowed for an assessment of the respondent in the role of both apprentice and mentor.;Findings and Conclusions. The findings indicated that a larger percentage of home economists identified and participated in more mentoring and apprentice relationships than did engineering administrators. When examining characteristics of the relationship, few differences were found between the two groups of administrators. The major difference was identified when analyzing the differences between the sexes. Females were found most often to identify female mentors and apprentices, while males most often identified male mentors and apprentices. Significant differences were found between the administrators in home economics and engineering regarding the perceived importance of the mentoring relationship in one's advancement within higher education administration. Home economists recognized the relationship as significantly more important than engineers, and a significant number of these relationships were in the educational arena. Similar characteristics were attributable to those administrators in engineering assuming the roles of mentor and apprentice as to those administrators in home economics. It was recommended that further research be conducted to investigate female administrative mentorship in other disciplines.