July 2026, Vol. 12, No. 2

Reimagining Mentorship in Higher Education: Addressing the Academic and Career Needs of First-Year Students

Augustine O. Nwaka

Mentoring is a critical component of student success in higher education, particularly for first-year undergraduate and doctoral students who are navigating new academic expectations, institutional cultures, and career pathways. Colleges and universities have long recognized that the transition into higher education can be academically and professionally challenging. However, mentoring systems in many institutions remain uneven in design and effectiveness. As noted by Odyssey contributors, Ebenezer Agorsor and Victor Apedo, existing mentorship frameworks often fail to adequately address the complex academic and professional development needs of contemporary doctoral students. Undergraduate students similarly face mentoring gaps despite the presence of advising offices and counseling services (Wilton, et al., 2021). Read more.

Reimagining Faculty Roles in Supporting International Students' Mental Health Amid Unstable Immigration Policies

Vanessa Ampofoa Boadu

The United States (U.S.) remains a leading destination for international education, attracting students from across the globe due to its rigorous academic programs, distinguished faculty, advanced research facilities, and global reputation as a developed nation (Acar, 2024; Nicholls, 2018). For many international students, gaining admission to a U.S. institution represents a transformative opportunity that promises access to world-class education, professional advancement associated with high utility of U.S.-earned degrees (Chao et al, 2017; Zhou, 2015). Read more.

When Knowing Too Much Gets in the Way: The Expert Blindspot 

Victor Klenam Apedo, Freda Asante

Imagine sitting in a classroom or a meeting, and someone asks if there are any questions. You have one– a big one– but looking around, everyone else shakes their heads. So, you stay quiet. You tell yourself you will figure it out later. You do not want to be the person who slows everything down, or worse, the person who does not know something that apparently everyone else already knows. Or perhaps you are filling out a university Qualtrics survey from your department. Simple enough, until you discover a slew of abbreviations: AY, FTE, FERPA. You stare at the screen. You do not want to submit something incorrectly, so you walk down the hall to ask a colleague. They glance at you and say, “Oh, AY is just academic year,” like it is the most natural thing in the world. You smile and nod, quietly wondering how many other things everyone else seems to already know that nobody ever thought to tell you. Read more.

Graduate Professionalism Beyond Productivity: Why Bodies, Time, Technology, and Relationships Matter

Victor Klenam Apedo, Ebenezer Agorsor

Ask any graduate student what it means to be successful in their program, and they will likely give you a list including completing courses, passing comprehensive exams, defending proposals, attending conferences, and publishing research. These milestones are real and important. They signify intellectual growth, disciplinary membership, and professional readiness. However, they do not tell the full story of how graduate students persist, belong, and develop into scholars. There is a quieter story happening alongside the official one, told through sleep schedules, skipped meals, hours lost to social media scrolling, gym shoes that never leave the bag, the missed field day or family reunions, and friendships outside the university that slowly fade away. Graduate education has historically treated these as private matters, irrelevant to scholarly development. The costs of graduate education must be acknowledged; it is crucial for how we design, support, and think about graduate education. Read more.

Holding Complexity: Identity, Character, and the Practice of Belonging

Theresa Lucas

I have spent my entire adult life in higher education. I began working in student affairs at 19 while finishing my final year of college at Iowa State, and I held my first higher education internship at 20. Those years were critical for me as I learned what a career in higher education could be, but because I was so young, I simultaneously learned who I was. The journey of discovering and accepting my identities as a human has never been separated from my journey of discovering my identity as a professional. Identity is the throughline for how I see this field, our students, and my colleagues. Read more.

 

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