Date of Award
8-2026
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science - Agriculture
Department
Agriculture
First Advisor
Dr. Candis Scallan
Second Advisor
Dr. Joe Mask
Third Advisor
Ms. Emily Payne
Fourth Advisor
Dr. Brandy Bishop
Abstract
Mentoring is a tool utilized to improve the retention of college students and can serve as an effort to increase their willingness to persist despite challenges. Establishing mentoring relationships amongst first-year students and more-experienced students can create a sense of belonging. Mentorship programs may be developed within a particular major or program. Within this study, an online survey was formed to analyze the perceptions of first-year pre-veterinary students in Fall 2024 and Fall 2025. A peer-mentorship program was implemented amongst pre-veterinary students in Fall 2025. First-year students who completed the survey in Fall 2024 were not mentored. Many of the first-year students who completed the survey in Fall 2025 were mentored. These students were assigned a junior or senior level student who served as their mentor. Mentors were urged to lead discussions focused on academic coursework, organizational involvement, and future goals. Results were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, Levene’s test and Mann-Whitney tests. Survey results found that mentored students reported being more organizationally involved and better able to identify a role model compared to non-mentored students. It is recommended mentorship programs be incorporated within organizations related to a student’s major and overseen by a faculty member.
Repository Citation
Neal, Amy, "An Evaluation of Peer Mentoring in a Pre-Veterinary Science Program within a College of Forestry and Agriculture" (2026). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 674.
https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/674
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
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