Mentoring activities and the career paths of women earning B.S. degrees in Agricultural Education at Penn State University

The purpose of this study was to describe the mentoring activities and career paths among women with B.S. degrees earning in agricultural education form Penn State University who entered and remained in the profession of teaching agriculture, those who entered and left and those who never entered. The population for the study was 80 living female graduates. Sixty-three (79.9%) of the women responded. Data were collected via telephone interview. Descriptive statistics were used in the analysis. Women entered agricultural education because of their desire to teach and their interest in agriculture, but many left the field because they couldn't get hired. Most graduates were reared from rural areas. The mean age of all graduates was 35.5 years and 77.8 percent were married. Less than one-half had children. More women who were currently teaching agriculture had held membership in 4-h and FFA and were enrolled in agricultural classes in high school. The current agriculture teachers reported having more mentors before and after graduations. Most mentoring relationships tended to be long term.