THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FORMAL MENTORING PROGRAM CHARACTERISTICS AND PERCEIVED PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS

Formal mentoring programs continue to gain popularity within organizations despite limited empirical research regarding how these programs should be designed to achieve maximum effectiveness. This study examined design features of formal mentoring programs and perceived program effectiveness from both mentor and protégé perspectives. Mentor commitment and program understanding were examined as mediators. Substantial support for the proposed path analytic model was found. These results help begin to bridge the gap between science and practice concerning the design of formal mentoring programs.     

Teachers' Conceptions of Creativity and Creative Students

Teachers' conceptions of creativity and creative students were investigated. Questionnaires were administered to elementary school teachers to examine their attitudes, beliefs, and current classroom practices. Teachers were found to possess inaccurate concepts regarding what constitutes creativity and revealed conflicts with the classroom behaviors demonstrated by creative students. The paradox between teachers' reported support for creativity enrichment and virtual lack of related classroom practice is explored as a result of multiple misconceptions and contributing variables.     

Kate Hevner Mueller: Woman for a Changing World

Kate Hevner Mueller was a pioneer, not only in student affairs administration but also in the graduate-level preparation of student affairs staff and in the education of women for diverse roles in society. At the same time, she was a scholar of many interests, from psychometrics to aesthetic expression, who made a lasting contribution to the knowledge and literature of student affairs. Mueller's personal papers included extensive autobiographical reflections on her life and her experiences as a teacher, researcher, and mentor. These writings, as well as the recollections of her students and colleagues, were fashioned into the “interview” that follows.     

The New Scholarship on Women

Biklen, S.K., & Dwyer, C. (Eds.). (1986). The new scholarship on women in education [Special issue]. Educational Researcher, 15(6). McHugh, M.C., Koeske, R.D., & Frieze, I.H. (1986). Issues to consider in conducting nonsexist psychological research. American Psychologist, 41, 879–890.     

Childhood Deafness:

The primary self postulated by Fordham draws upon both psychic and bodily structures to unfold needs and potentials in the external world. In this paper I have presented some thoughts on the role of the ear and of hearing in bringing the neonate into relationship with its mother and broader environment in early deintegrative processes. The ear serves as an important organ not only in receiving sound, but also in orientating the neonate in relation to the world and to its mother's body, and perceiving and sustaining a sense of self. When in infancy the sense of hearing is lost, the spontaneous activities of the self appear to operate in a compensatory way, enhancing the operations of viable organs of perception. This speculation was drawn from a series of observations of a deaf baby girl. The most significant negative result of deafness is the way it affects body image. Deaf children feel not only different about not being able to hear and speak like others, but, far more profoundly, also excluded from the intercourse between others, living on an everyday basis with the primal scene predominant in the mind. The nature of this experience, as I have tried to show, was illustrated by material from work with a profoundly deaf girl.     

A Psychoeducational Group Intervention for Family Members of Persons with HIV/AIDS

We describe a psychoeducational group intervention for family members of persons living with AIDS. The 33 family members were compared with 13 waiting-list controls in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. We focus on the practice aspects of the intervention, its development and implementation, and our belief that it is an apparently effective approach for helping family members work through the social and emotional aspects of the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS.