Dr. Jennifer Ackerman & Dr. Michael Fraina

This will be a qualitative study with a semi-structured approach. The overall focus of the study is mentoring in the context of intercollegiate athletics. The questions will ask about situations and topics such as comfortability, confidence, preferences, GPA, and time conflicts. We want to know where student-athletes do best in multiple levels, such as GPA, leadership, and overall confidence depending on the peer mentor they are matched with. If a peer mentoring program is enacted, we would want to see this mentorship happen bi-weekly and for a follow up to this study, we would do a quantitative analysis looking at GPA changes, confidence levels pre and post mentorship, and/or athletic performance. This study will be done at Farmingdale State College, a Division III athletic school in the Skyline conference. The study will ask questions to both mentees (1st and 2nd year student-athletes) and mentors (3rd and 4th year student-athletes and non student-athletes) about peer mentor preferences. 

Coding/Data Analysis- students will look through all the interviews that will be done Spring 2026 and go through the lines one by one. Students will highlight important quotes said during the interviews for both mentees and mentors and find common themes. Once this is completed, students will write the findings and discussion sections for a paper to be published, as well as limitations and future directions. Students will lastly create a poster summarizing the study from start to finish to present at the end of the summer and other conferences moving forward. 

Students should be enthusiastic about the subject matter!

Students will use the information gained from this project to present the information at conferences (IGNITE and SURC for example) and publish in an academic journal on student-athlete mentorship. Some journals that we may apply to are; Mentoring & Tutoring, International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, and the Journal for the Study of Sports and Athletes in Education.

Hybrid
Monday - Thursday (2 Days on Campus, 2 Days Remote) 
Final Schedule will be agreed upon with selected students.