Running head: FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCES

First-Year Experiences of Female Tenure Track Counselor Educators

Jill Nelson

North Dakota State University

Jason McGlothlin & Donald Bubenzer

Kent State University

Abstract

A qualitative study of the first year experiences of female counselor educators was conducted. Participants were asked about their experiences during their first year as a counselor educator. The 5 themes that were present for all 3 participants are shared here. These themes were (a) mentoring, (b) getting settled into a new community, (c) strained relationships with students, (d) loneliness, and (e) being a woman. Each participant also shared advice for future female counselor educators. The 15 themes across two participants are also shared. Implications for counselor education and recommendations for future research are also given.

First-Year Experiences of Female Tenure Track Counselor Educators

Several issues face early career faculty members, including loneliness, confusion, stress and worries about their scholarly productivity (Austin & Rice, 1998; Boice, 1992). These first years are predictive of the future productivity of faculty members. Therefore, examining and contextualizing the first years of an academic career can be important to helping newly hired faculty members be more successful (Boice).

The first years of an academic career are qualitatively different from the later years. Several authors have explored the experiences of tenure-track faculty in their first years though they have explored different foci and populations (Austin & Rice, 1998; Boice, 1992; Bronstein & Farnsworth, 1998; Dinham, 1999; Magnuson, 2002; Magnuson, Norem & Haberstroh, 2001; Menges, 1999; Perna, 2001; Sorcinelli, 1994, 2002). These authors have reported that most new faculty members perceive these early years to be stressful and confusing. While there have been several studies examining the experiences of new faculty members in several disciplines, very few studies have examined new counselor educators specifically .

Boice (1992) conducted a qualitative study of four successive cohorts of newly hired faculty members at a large university in the United States. Participants were interviewed each semester, for as many as four years. Boice found that faculty members in their first three years reported loneliness, intellectual under-stimulation, and disappointment and worry about their scholarly productivity. The participants of Boice’s study also reported feeling disappointed by the support they received from and the competence of senior faculty members. Boice insisted that new faculty members are an important, but neglected resource and it is imperative that they are provided support. Such support systems can only benefit faculty members, students, and the institution.

New faculty members have reported unclear expectations about tenure, the tenure timeline being too short, and maintaining personal and professional balance as problems during their first years in an academic career (Austin & Rice, 1998). They also perceived problems with the institutional infrastructure, such as lack of library resources and scientific equipment, lack of support, and problems with evaluations and feedback. Dinham (1999) warned that new faculty members may not be fully prepared for what they face in their new positions.

There is a dearth of literature about the early career experiences of counselor educators. Several authors have examined counselor education faculty members at all stages of their career (Leinbaugh, Hazler, Bradley, & Hill, 2003; Niles, Akos, & Cutler, 2001; Ramsey, Cavallaro, Kiselica, & Zila, 2002). It is important to know specifically what the experiences for new counselor educators are. There is a scarcity of literature in this area and what research does exist is discussed in this paper. Magnuson (2002) explored the first year experiences of faculty members in the field of counselor education specifically. She examined the experiences of male and female first-year counselor education assistant professors and how they rated themselves on stress and anxiety, satisfaction, and feelings of connectedness. Magnuson et al. (2001) examined demographic information of new counselor educators and their experiences of obtaining a position in the field.

Studies have been conducted about the differences that women and minorities face in academia (Aguirre, 2000; Austin & Rice, 1998; Bronstein & Farnsworth, 1998; Lease, 1999; Perna, 2001; Trautvetter, 1999). Most of these researchers found that the female and male experiences differ and that female faculty members often experience higher amounts of stress. Few authors have explored the experiences of female counselor educators specifically (Chandler, Altekruse, & McCortney, 2002; Hill, Leinbaugh, Bradley & Hazler, 2005; Roland & Fontanesi-Seime, 1996) and there is a trend toward more women than men entering the field of counselor education (Chandler et al., 2002; Magnuson, et al., 2001; Maples & Macari, 1998). Maples and Macari reported that 62% of newly hired counselor educators were female. Magnuson et al. stated that in the fall of 1999, the typical newly hired assistant professor was a White female who received her Ph D. in the months just before beginning the new position. Because there seems to be more women entering the field of counselor education and there appears to be issues that affect early career faculty members this study focused on the experiences of women counselor educators in their first year as tenure track faculty members. Understanding the issues that face new counselor educators may help future counselor educators be more prepared in their new careers.

This study focused on three women’s reflections about their first year as tenure track counselor education faculty members. The researchers assumed that there may be multiple factors influencing the experiences of newly hired counselor educators some of which have not been explored in previous research and therefore, to gain a richer understanding of such experiences a qualitative study was warranted to explore some of these factors.

Method and Procedure

A collective case study approach, also called an instrumental case study extended to several cases, was used for this study. According to Stake (1995, 1998, 2003), an instrumental case study design is used when a case provides insight into a particular issue. The case provides a supportive role in understanding a phenomenon more clearly. In this instance, the phenomenon is the entry year in a tenure track counselor education faculty position as experienced by females. Case study research offers a means to investigate and gain insights into complex social issues (Merriam, 2001) and allows for the understanding of context when studying a phenomenon (Darke, Shanks, & Broadbent, 1998). These insights can lead to suppositions about the phenomena being studied (Merriam). As it applies in the current study, each individual female counselor educator provided insights into how they experienced their first year as tenure track counselor educators. In the present study, three cases were examined with the goal of gaining a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of female counselor educators in their first year as counselor educators. A case was defined as an individual counselor educator in this study. Each case study was a “concentrated inquiry into a single case” (Stake, 1998, p. 87), and was conducted simultaneously with other cases.

Identifying information was removed to protect the identity of the participants, their programs, and their universities. The participants were each assigned pseudonyms (Diane, Erin, and Kim). Kim and Diane both work at universities in the Midwest, Erin works in the Western region of the United States. Kim and Erin are in their early thirties and Diane is in her fifties. All three women are Caucasian.

Participant Selection

Cases were selected using methods suggested by Stake (1999, 2003). Stake suggested that a researcher should identify various interests about the phenomenon being examined and choose cases that seem to be typical for this phenomenon. The phenomenon in this study was the first year experiences as a female tenure track counselor educator. For this study, participants held many characteristics that were common to the phenomenon. The participants graduated from CACREP accredited counselor education programs and accepted faculty positions in CACREP counselor education programs. At the time of the interview, each of the participants was in her first tenure track position, but not tenured. Each participant shared different stories, but all met the criteria that were set by the researchers for eligibility in this study.

Stake (1999) suggested that choosing participants that fit the criteria of the phenomenon is important, and cases that provide the most opportunity to learn are important as well. This meant selecting a participant because she is able to expend more energy to the research than another potential participant. One potential participant was excluded despite fitting the criteria for selection. This participant was somewhat concerned about her confidentiality being protected and it was determined that this may affect what might have been learned from her reflections.

Data Collection and Analysis

Once willing and qualified participants were identified, the research interviews were scheduled and conducted. Each of the initial interviews lasted approximately 90 minutes. Prior to the initial interview, participants were asked to reflect upon the interview questions (see Table 1).

Following each interview, the audio tapes were transcribed and checked for errors by the researcher. Each participant was sent the transcript of her interview to review. The purpose of the participants reading the transcripts was for them to make clarifications as they thought appropriate. They would also be allowed to reflect on the content of the interview prior to their second interview. Participants could opt not to read the transcript if they wished.

The participants were asked to participate in a follow-up interview. During the follow-up interview, participants were also given the opportunity to clarify anything they wished since the initial interview. A secondary goal of the follow-up interview was to allow the participants to add new reflections or stories that had come to mind for them since the initial interview. Each follow up interview lasted between 30 and 45 minutes. The follow-up interviews were also audio-recorded and transcribed.

The data were imported into the QSR N6 qualitative research software. As they developed, coding categories were narrowed and named in the software. The data were re-read for each of the coding categories and the text that applied to each of the categories was coded into the software. This project utilized a constant comparative approach to analyzing data. The initial step in the coding process was to read the data from the first case (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Merriam, 2001). As the transcript was read, observations and notes were made regarding keywords and possible emergent themes.

Next, the data from the second case were analyzed in the same manner as the data from the first case. As suggested by Merriam (2001), the notes and comments from the initial set of data were compared to the notes and comments of the second set of data to see if these same comments applied to the second set of data. As the second set of data was analyzed, comments were also made about what was observed in the second set of data that was not present in the first set of data. This was the process of comparing the data between cases for similarities and differences.

Finally, the data from the third case were analyzed in the same manner as the data from the first and second cases. As the third set of data was analyzed, observations and notes were made about how the data from the third case was similar and different from the previous cases.

Once the data were coded, the researcher identified the main themes or categories. The main themes for individual cases as well as across cases were identified. Ideally, these categories should reflect the purpose of the research and be the answers to the research question (Merriam, 2001). It was anticipated these “answers” would allow for a more complete understanding of how women counselor educators experience their first year as tenure track faculty members.

Results

As the data were analyzed, themes emerged from each participant. A total of 28 themes emerged from the data. The five themes that were present for all participants and the 15 themes across two participants will be shared here. Themes that were present for all three participants were (a) Mentoring, (b) Getting Settled into a New Community, (c) Strained Relationships With Students, (d) Loneliness, and (e) Being a Woman. Each participant also had advice to share with future female counselor educators. The themes across all participants will be discussed first, and the 15 themes across two participants will follow.

Results Across All Participants

Mentoring. Each participant mentioned mentoring as a key component to her first year experience. The participants all spoke about different types of mentoring relationships including relationships with their graduate school mentors, their current mentors, and their desire for a woman mentor. Each woman considered at least one of her senior colleagues a mentor to her. Erin stated, “I think as I reflect back on my first year as a woman counselor educator… the piece that most stands out for me is I think how important the mentoring was that I received…. I would say that primarily my mentors were in my department. My department chair has been a consistent support for me.” The mentoring relationships the participants spoke of were with male mentors and while the participants valued these relationships, they wondered what might be different with a woman to mentor them.

None of the women had mentoring relationships with female colleagues, and all stated they wished they had a woman to be a mentor to them. Kim recalled a conversation she had with one of her male mentors: “And I had a conversation with him about a year ago and remember him saying to me that you’re a really great role model to the young female students in the doctoral program, to show them that you can be successful and you can balance a family and all of that kind of stuff. And I remember saying to him, ‘Who’s my female role model in the profession?’.” Diane stated, “I still have two mentors and they’re both men.... it would be nice to have a woman as a mentor and I still don’t have that.” Erin stated, “One of the things that was a huge disappointment for me is one of the faculty members who is a full professor is a woman and I feel like she has not reached out at all to be supportive of the incoming women faculty members. So that’s been really at times frustrating to me, but at this point it’s pretty disappointing. And I can remember my first year really seeking out, trying to interact with her, trying to engage her and just really feeling closed off from that.”

Getting settled in a new community. All three participants spoke about being happy about reaching their goal and obtaining a position but each referred to issues associated with moving to a new place and having to start anew. Moving hundreds of miles to take a position was part of the adjustment during the first year for each participant. Kim said, “That first year was really hard, because we moved to a place where we knew nobody.” Erin talked about moving across the country: “And so it was a big change for me. The climate’s a lot different here; it was so far away from people. The community’s a lot different than what I was accustomed to so that was a big change.” Diane moved from a rural area to an urban area and found help with that adjustment by connecting with a community group that she was involved in before her move.

Strained relationships with students. Although all participants had positive interactions with students during their first year, each talked about some of the struggles they had with their students during their first year as tenure track counselor educators. Most of the struggles of which Kim and Erin spoke were related to being young and students questioning them about their age and abilities. Diane’s struggles involved being from a different culture and speaking with an accent. Kim recalled, “I think there was another issue in that I’m pretty young and a lot of the students were my age or older… and I had to be real careful about boundaries. Because they thought ‘she’s young and she’ll be our pal rather than our faculty’.” Erin talked about students questioning her abilities, “I encountered that my first year.... I am younger and I look young too. I think that emerged as more of an issue with some of the master’s students in terms of people wanting to know how old I was.” Diane felt that students treated her differently because she was new, “But because I was new, they didn’t know if I was an adjunct or part-timer or visitor. And so I think that probably they did things and said things that I know they didn’t do with the other faculty.”

Loneliness. All three women reported feeling lonely to some degree during the first year of their faculty position. A quote from Kim exemplifies this theme: “Well, people are there, but there were days that I never talked to another colleague all day long because I was doing my own thing and just hanging out in my office doing what I needed to do and they were busy….So, I remember going to check my mail just so I could get out of the office and see if there was another person to talk to.” This loneliness was attributed to no longer having a peer group and cohort. Erin stated, “One of the things I think that became more and more apparent to me as I continued on my first year, which was how isolated I felt.” Kim and Diane reported being surprised by the lack of collegiality in their departments. Participants also attributed some of the loneliness with being in a new community.

Being a woman. All three participants reported that they felt that there were differences in the way they experienced their first year as a counselor educator because they were women. A quote from Erin exemplifies this theme: “I think sometimes with women if we think about the gendered expectations of being involved more in teaching and service.… I think students sometimes look to women faculty to do some of that extra stuff that is sort of outside of the classroom but really is supportive of departmental climate.” Diane mentioned this theme the most, and felt that being a woman was detrimental to her success in her first year. A younger man was hired at the same time as Diane and she felt that there were several times he was given advantages that she wasn’t. Erin and Kim reported that there were differences in how they experienced their first year, but that these differences were not necessarily detrimental. Erin attributed becoming very involved with students her first year to being a woman. Kim stated that she was very aware of being in a “good old boy” environment at times, but she used the fact that she wasn’t a part of that network to her advantage by diving into her work and being very productive.

Advice to others. At the end of the first interviews, all participants were asked if they had advice to future female counselor educators. Kim encouraged women to know who they are and where they are going and to not lose focus of that. She also recommended maintaining connections with peers from graduate school. Diane recommended finding a woman who will be a mentor. Erin recommended finding a position that is a good fit personally and professionally, even if that means not going to a research intensive university.

Themes Across Two Participants

There were a total of 15 themes across two participants; these 15 themes are discussed here. Of the 15 themes that crossed two participants, Kim and Erin had the most themes in common (nine themes). Kim and Erin spoke about the (a) imposter syndrome, (b) fit with their program, (c) being young, (d) balancing time, (e) being intentional about research and writing, (f) having a voice through service activities, (g) the excitement of teaching, (h) sharing a new experience, and (i) learning a new system. Kim and Diane had four themes in common: advice from others, tenure, having advisees right away, and politics. Erin and Diane had two themes in common: cultural influences and personal relationships with students.

Imposter syndrome. Kim and Erin both reported experiencing what they termed the imposter syndrome. The imposter syndrome was associated with self-doubt and worries about being able to live up to the expectations placed on them by themselves and others. It was interesting that both participants coined the same term for their feelings of self-doubt. Kim and Erin also both reported that the imposter syndrome was one of the issues they continued to struggle with beyond their first year, but for each it lessened with time.

Fit with program. Kim and Erin spoke about finding a faculty position in a program that fit their needs and personalities. Both women were intentional in choosing programs where the expectations for teaching, research, and service matched their strengths.

Being young. Erin and Kim are both in their early 30s and spoke about their age being an issue in their first year as counselor educators. Both reported that some students and colleagues made comments questioning their ability based on their age. They reported that these comments lessened as they were in their position longer. Neither participant reported being surprised by this with students, but Kim was surprised when comments were made by other faculty members in the college.

Balancing time. Kim and Erin spoke about the challenges of balancing their time between work and self-care. Kim and Erin both stated that this issue has continued for them beyond their first year.

Being intentional about research and writing. Kim and Erin spoke about their varied success with research and writing efforts in their first year. For these participants, there appeared to be a relationship between completing research and writing and intentionally setting aside time only for research and writing. A quote from Kim exemplified the success she felt with research and writing:

It was exciting because at the time I really enjoyed the writing process and generating new ideas. And for some reason, I always hear people struggling to find the time that first year for writing. I was very intentional about taking one day a week. And that’s what worked for me. I know people who do a couple hours a day, but I had one day a week that I dedicated to research and writing.

A quote from Erin exemplified the struggle for her:

It wasn’t very intentional my first year [setting aside time for research and writing]. I think I would just kind of go through my week and if I had extra time, I’d be like oh maybe I’ll look at my dissertation. And I think that’s one of the reasons I struggled so much with that.

Having a voice through service activities. Erin and Kim spoke about being involved in professional service activities during their first year as counselor educators. They spoke about these activities in terms of having a voice and finding rewards in making a difference to the program and the department. Kim spoke about the excitement and fulfillment when she suggested a change in the curriculum:

It was also exciting that year I had a class that I taught that I really felt like everybody should take but it was an elective. Being able to make my case to the faculty and having them hear me and say you know what, maybe you are right... that was exciting.

Erin also spoke about this excitement when having her suggestions heard by her colleagues:

We revised all the master’s level curriculum so I got to have a voice and really create classes I wanted to see in there and I got to be coordinator of the mental health program so I had a lot of autonomy and initiative and a lot of opportunities to voice what I would like to see differently or think would be creative ways of tackling certain things. So that was exciting.

The excitement of teaching. Kim and Erin spoke about their teaching experiences during their first year. For both Kim and Erin, they reported that the most rewarding part of teaching was owning the classroom and being creative in their approaches to teaching. Both viewed the classroom as a place where they could make their mark.

Sharing a new experience. When asked about the role family played in their first year experiences, Kim and Erin spoke about having husbands with whom they could share the many new experiences they faced. Both Kim and Erin were newly married when they began their positions and reported struggles in their relationships related to their move and new positions, but overall they appreciated having someone with whom to share their experience. Both women talked about some of the difficulties associated with being the person in the relationship who initiates the move. Kim stated:

Even though it’s 2005 that the idea that in a heterosexual couple that the woman is the one who dictates the move is still unusual. And I know how lucky I am that he was willing to do that.

Learning a new academic system. When they were asked about the experience of advising students, Erin and Kim spoke about becoming familiar with a new system of courses and paperwork and having to ask a lot of questions of their colleagues. Each participant held different views about having many questions about which courses to advise students to take.

Kim appeared to feel less comfortable with all the questions she had and reported being afraid of asking too many questions of her colleagues. She reported that her concern was that her colleagues might wonder if she was incompetent if she asked too many questions. Erin viewed learning a new system as a developmental process. She stated that once she reminded herself that she was in a time of transition and learning, she felt less uneasy about asking questions of program faculty and staff.

Support through collaboration with others. Kim and Erin talked about collaborating with their graduate school peers during their first year as counselor educators. Both women reported that they engaged in scholarly activities such as writing and presenting at conferences with their peers but they also spoke about these relationships in terms of support. Both stated that they appreciated having people in similar situations to talk to and they felt supported by these peers

Helpful advice from others. Kim and Diane received advice from senior faculty members during their first year that they perceived as helpful to them. Both reported that the advice helped them to feel more confident in their positions as faculty members.

The pressure of tenure. Kim and Diane spoke about tenure being an anxiety provoking phenomenon beginning immediately in their first year as tenure track faculty members. Each dealt with this anxiety in different ways. Although she was in her third year as a tenure track faculty member, Kim was still uncertain about the exact requirements for her to earn tenure. Kim tried to make up for this uncertainty by increasing her productivity and doing what she could to be prepared when she went up for tenure review.

Diane was told during her orientation that it was difficult for a woman to get tenure at her institution and this was something she thought about often during her first year experience. Diane sought mentoring and assistance from others in an attempt to increase her chances of earning tenure. She collaborated with senior faculty members on research and writing projects.

Working with politics. Kim and Diane identified politics as a part of their first year experiences. Kim stated that office politics were present but she did not feel adversely affected by them. When asked about how she defined politics, Kim stated that she associated politics with decision making sometimes people being left out. To cope with politics, Kim preferred to stay clear of the politics and focus on doing her job well.

Diane stated that politics were present in her situation, and she felt many negative consequences as a result of these politics. Diane associated politics with people doing amazing things to get what they wanted. Diane felt that some of the political decisions made were detrimental to her success. Diane reported that she saw politics at the program level, department level, and the university level.

Having advisees right away. All participants were assigned advisees right away and Kim and Diane spoke about being surprised and somewhat overwhelmed by that. Diane reported that it was surprising because she had anticipated being able to step into the advisor role more gradually than she did. Kim felt overwhelmed by the amount of information she had to learn in order to be an effective advisor for her students. Kim was most surprised by being assigned a doctoral student to advise right away. Kim wondered if she would be able to provide the kind of guidance a doctoral student requires.

Cultural influences. Diane and Erin both moved to regions that were culturally different from where they grew up. Diane moved from a rural mountain area to an urban industrial area and Erin moved from the Midwest to the West. Each woman had different experiences with their new cultural environment, but they shared being shocked by the impact cultural differences had on their first year experiences.

Personal relationships with students. Diane and Erin spoke about having positive personal relationships with students during their first year as faculty members. Diane spoke about students helping to make her feel welcomed in her new environment. Diane is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and she stated that many of her students in one of the courses she taught were also in recovery. Diane reported that she felt a special connection with these students, and at the end of the semester they gave her gifts as a way of thanking her for their experience in the course. For Diane, the student relationships seemed especially vital, because she often felt unwelcome by most of the faculty members.

Erin spoke about developing positive relationships with her students. Erin mentioned that she has a lot of energy and felt as though she was willing to engage students at a level other faculty members were not. Erin stated several times that she was invested in her students’ success. Erin stated she felt this connection most with her students in her second semester, feeling that she knew the students better at this point.

Discussion and Recommendations

The literature explored the experiences of new faculty members in counselor education and of women faculty members in many disciplines. There were no studies specifically addressing the experience of new female counselor educators. This study is a beginning exploration of this phenomenon. There were only three participants and the results are not generalizable, but this study has provided a glimpse of the experiences of three women during their first year as tenure track counselor educators. This study can provide a starting point for further research, but it can also educate women entering the field about some of the things they may encounter.

Boice (1992) found that there are several issues facing early career faculty members and that these first years are shaping and predictive of a faculty member’s future productivity. The results from the present research study support this finding. The participants in the present study reported that they faced many issues during their first year, some of which affected their career positively and some that affected their career negatively.

Senior counselor educators can play a very important role in the success of first year counselor educators. Mentoring was revealed as extremely important to all participants in this study. Mentoring and support from senior faculty members was especially vital when facing the challenges of the first year as a counselor educator. The literature in higher education supports the concept of mentoring for new faculty members as well (Knight, 2002; Magnuson, 2002; Sorcinelli, 1994, 2002). Further investigation about mentoring new counselor educators is warranted. It will be useful to know to what degree mentoring is already taking place in this field. It will also be useful to know what specifically about mentoring is useful.

One recommendation is to conduct a formal study of the role senior counselor educators play in the successes of new counselor educators. Magnuson (2002) reported that new counselor educators found support from senior faculty members helpful. The participants in the current study cited senior faculty members as being constructive during their first year. Senior counselor educators may benefit from realizing the importance of their relationships with junior faculty members. Whether through mentoring, advice giving, or by simply being friendly, the findings suggest that senior faculty members can strongly influence the first year experiences of new counselor educators. Participants also spoke of feeling lonely and isolated during their first years. Senior faculty members can also help ease some of this by reaching out in collegial ways. Perhaps stopping by and inquiring about how things are going or asking a new faculty member out for coffee or lunch will be very helpful.

There are lessons to be learned by women entering the profession of counselor education. Knowing what other women before them have experienced may ease the transition into their new role. Like participants in previous studies (Austin & Rice, 1998; Boice, 1992), the participants in this study experienced loneliness during their first year. Whether the loneliness is due to moving a great distance or being without a cohort for the first time, knowing that loneliness may occur may help normalize these feelings for women entering the field of counselor education. The participants each had difficult situations with students arise. Normalizing this for new female counselor educators may also be helpful.

Each participant was aware of having different experiences because she is a woman. Diane felt that being a woman was a detriment to her success as a counselor educator; Kim and Erin felt less strongly about women’s issues during their first year as counselor educators. There is a significant age difference between Diane and the other two participants and it is not known if the age difference contributed to this discrepancy. There were several more themes that emerged for the younger participants than there were between Diane and either younger participant. Kim and Erin had 16 themes in common, Diane and Kim had 10 themes in common, and Diane and Erin had only eight themes in common. It was not investigated and therefore not known if age differences contributed to the large differences in the number of themes in common, but it does appear to be one possible explanation. Further research on female counselor educators while controlling for age is needed.

All participants in the present study were women and all wished they had women mentors, but none did. All of the participants worked with women colleagues who were full professors. Further investigation into whether this was an isolated phenomenon to the participants of this study or if there is a lack of women mentoring women in counselor education is essential. If there is a lack of women mentoring women, it will be interesting to know the reasons why this is happening. It may be that there are fewer senior female faculty members to provide the mentoring. It is interesting to note that all three participants plan on reaching out to new female faculty members once they are more experienced. For current female senior counselor education faculty, it is important to know that new female faculty members may be wishing for support from female faculty members.

The researchers recognize that there are many issues that face new female counselor educators that were not uncovered in this research. The participants in this study voiced unique experiences that may or may not apply to women entering the field of counselor education. The themes that emerged across all participants and themes across two participants were shared here and there were more themes that were unique to individual participants (Nelson, 2005). The researchers believe that this is an important topic that merits further investigation.

In conclusion, the three participants in this study shared their reflections about their first years as counselor educators. Several themes that emerged from the interview data were shared here. Based on the analysis of the data, it is believed that three major foci for additional research in needed. Further research into the mentoring of new female counselor educators is warranted, particularly what types of mentoring is taking place and what about mentoring is helpful. Research into the role of senior faculty members’ contributions to junior faculty members’ success or lack of success is also necessary. It is also important that the perceived lack of female mentors in counselor education is explored further. We hope that these and other experiences of female counselor educators will continue to be explored in the future.

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Table 1

Interview Questions

General Questions	Question
	As you reflect on your first year as a tenure-track counselor educator, what aspects of that year come to mind and what brings them to mind?
	What were the challenges that come to mind?
	What were the satisfactions that come to mind?
	Which were the experiences that were particularly challenging? Why? Were there additional challenges?
	Were there experiences that were particularly satisfactory? Why? Were there additional satisfactions?
Questions Related to Literature	Question
	What were your experiences as a researcher?
	How did you experience teaching?
	How did you experience advising?
	How did you experience making professional adjustments, such as building a professional identity?
	What was it like transitioning from a doctoral student to a faculty member?
	What personal adjustments did you make during this first year?
	How did you experience collegiality within the program, the department, the college, and the university?
Concluding Questions	Question
	After discussing each of these, are there other stories that you would like to share?
	What advice would you give to a female tenure track counselor educator about the first year experience?