The Toll of Power: The Impact of Advising Changes for STEM Ph.D. Students

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 9:00 am
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding STEM Student Experiences: Wayfinding, Advising, and Climate (Table 31)

Abstract

This critical narrative inquiry investigated the impact that changing advisors had on STEM Ph.D. students. Using Linder’s (2018) power-conscious framework to explore power relations in the doctoral advising relationship, we interviewed 28 STEM Ph.D. student across multiple fields and institutions. Changing advisors one or more times (voluntarily or not) took significant material, physical, academic, and emotional tolls on the students interviewed. These tolls ranged from doubts about pursuing an academic career to mental health concerns to material losses, such as money, time, and even publications.

Authors

• Rachel E. Friedensen, St. Cloud State University

• Genia M. Bettencourt, University of Memphis

• Megan Bartlett