Abstract
Graduate school attrition rates of 40% to 50% raise concern for mentors and mentees struggling to beat these odds. Poor self-esteem, inadequate preparation, limited finances, and dysfunctional social supports are common barriers, especially for underserved, nontraditional graduate students. In How to Use Emotional, Cultural, and Spiritual Intelligence, Walter McCollum (2014) contends that emotional, cultural, and spiritual intelligence facilitates the successful navigation through the dissertation process. Combining theory, practice, and experience, McCollum defines successful mentoring as the ability to create opportunities and environments that provide clear expectations, tools, and support for graduate students. Relying on his experience with underserved, nontraditional online doctoral students, he offers mentors and mentees best practices for reducing the attrition rates.
The first chapter, “Emotional Intelligence Is the Heart of Mentoring Doctoral Learners,” briefly summarizes the literature on emotional intelligence. Preferring Goleman’s (2000) emotional intelligence model because it measures the personal competence, empathy, and social skills of the mentor and mentee, McCollum (2014) uses his personal assessment scores to illustrate the development of his mentoring practices. He suggests that mentors with high emotional intelligence possess competencies to create the opportunities mentees need to succeed.
In the second chapter, “Using Cultural Intelligence as a Critical Success Factor to Mentor Doctoral Learners,” McCollum (2014) defines cultural intelligence as the ability to grasp what makes all people human and different at the same time. Acknowledging the changing global demographic in traditional and nontraditional doctoral programs, he asserts that cultural intelligence is a vital component for a successful mentoring relationship. He views mentoring as the bridge between interpersonal differences and cultural intelligence as the key to avoiding misunderstanding and conflict within a mentoring relationship.
In Chapter 3, “Aligning Spiritual Intelligence Principles With the Dissertation Process,” McCollum (2014) admits that research is sparse and finding a definition for spiritual intelligence is difficult. Settling on Sisk and Torrance’s (2001) definition of spiritual intelligence as a sensory approach to problem-solving and learning that listens to one’s inner voice, McCollum presents qualities evident in those with spiritual intelligence. The vision, purpose, meaning, and values a person possesses undergird one’s spiritual intelligence.
Chapter 4, “16 Best Practices for Doctoral Learners to Navigate the Dissertation Process,” begins with McCollum’s (2014) identification of a gap in the mentoring research literature. According to him, although sufficient mentoring literature addresses the desire of mentors and mentees to develop a partnership, a paucity of research addresses the influence of mentoring opportunities on a mentoring relationship. He argues that mentoring opportunities affect expectations regarding the mentoring experience and will affect the mentoring support gained by the mentee. Based on his 8 years mentoring doctoral learners, mostly in an online environment, McCollum offers 16 best practices he uses with his doctoral students. These best practices range from technical tips to emotional and spiritual tools helpful during the dissertation journey.
Part 2, Chapters 5 to 25, “Proven Tools and Tips From Doctors and Doctoral Candidates,” contains essays written by 21 nontraditional doctoral graduates or candidates, narrating their mentoring experience. Each essay contains the learner’s family and work profile on entering the doctorate program, challenges encountered, strategies used, and recommendations to future doctoral students. The essays vary according to writing quality, content depth, and application of McCollum’s best practices.
This book does not contain proven tools and tips from a quantitative or qualitative researcher’s perspective. In fact, the book may frustrate scholars expecting an analysis of emotional, cultural, and spiritual intelligence based on research informed by a theoretical framework. Instead, the bulk of this book is a collection of stories told by nontraditional doctoral students. It describes how these students navigated the dissertation process while managing their personal life challenges that threatened to derail their success. Rather than telling mentors or mentees how to complete the dissertation, this book offers tips for time management, guidelines for project management, and inspiration for staying committed during the process. It aligns with McCollum’s (2014) purpose to reduce graduate school attrition and produce practitioner/scholars who will not just have additional letters behind their names, but who will change their world.