Presented By: Juan Montealegre, University of Florida
Co-Authors: Kate Fletcher, University of Florida
Grady Roberts, University of Florida

In 2016, [department] at the [university] created a one-year program to provide doctoral students with a positive and supportive mentorship experience to grow and develop the professional skills and attitudes necessary to be successful college/university educators. This program has three primary objectives:(a) provide students with the essential skills to teach independently at the college/university level, (b) create a safe and supportive learning environment for doctoral students, and (c) enhance the employability of doctoral students for academic positions. Each doctoral student is paired with a faculty mentor as they transition from graduate teaching assistants to co-instructors, eventually teaching a course independently. This presentation aims to introduce the findings of a qualitative investigation that focuses on the experiences of participants who completed the program. An interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was conducted on participants' lived experiences (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). The study presents an in-depth qualitative analysis of mentee's learning experiences in achieving the objectives targeted in this mentored-teaching program(Eisner, 1991). The interviews revealed how participants (n=10) grew from these experiences and realized student learning outcomes because of the program (Dexter, 1970; Marshall & Rossman, 1989). Nine overarching themes were identified and complemented by eight sub-themes. These themes encompass perceived benefits related to real-world experience and peer support. Confidence, scaffolding to release, graduate student teaching awards, transferable skills, and credits offer a better understanding of the achievement of the student outcomes. Additionally, the feedback provided by mentees was valuable in understanding best practices like availability, immediacy, protecting time, and planning. Likewise, challenges regarding mentors and time are discussed to understand how to obtain transferable skills and succeed in this professional mentoring program. Therefore, the presentation's objectives are to discuss the nine overarching themes and eight sub-themes, identify the best mentoring practices for doctoral students, and expose the challenges they face.