Overarching Resources
Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER)
The Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER) was created in 2015 to sustain and expand nationwide on the work by scholars at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who were deeply engaged in developing, testing, and disseminating grant-funded mentor and mentee interventions to improve research learning experiences and mentoring relationships.
Mentoring and Advising
Resources on Mentoring and Advising from the Rackam Graduate School of the University of Michigan.
Mentoring Philosophies
Faculty in the University of Washington-Seattle Biology Department wrote up their individual philosophies on mentoring to illustrate the variety of ways in which they approach it.
Practice Good Advising and Mentoring
The InTeGrate project focused on interdisciplinary teaching about the Earth for a sustainable future. One aspect of the project addressed the programmatic challenge of increasing the diversity of students learning about the Earth. Good advising and mentoring was called out explicitly as one factor that can improve success for all students.
ReThinking Podcast: Finding–and becoming–great mentors and sponsors with Carla Harris
Adam Grant interviews executive Carla Harris on mentorship, careers, and advocating for yourself.
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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25568.
Mentorship is a catalyst capable of unleashing one's potential for discovery, curiosity, and participation in STEMM and subsequently improving the training environment in which that STEMM potential is fostered. Mentoring relationships provide developmental spaces in which students' STEMM skills are honed and pathways into STEMM fields can be discovered. Because mentorship can be so influential in shaping the future STEMM workforce, its occurrence should not be left to chance or idiosyncratic implementation. There is a gap between what we know about effective mentoring and how it is practiced in higher education.
The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM studies mentoring programs and practices at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It explores the importance of mentorship, the science of mentoring relationships, mentorship of underrepresented students in STEMM, mentorship structures and behaviors, and institutional cultures that support mentorship. This report and its complementary interactive guide present insights on effective programs and practices that can be adopted and adapted by institutions, departments, and individual faculty members.
Mentoring Maps, Mosaics, and Networks
Mentor Mapping Exercise
This exercise from the Earth Science Women's Network leads individuals through an activity of mapping out their mentoring network.
Mentoring Network Map Template
This mentoring map tamplate from the Lehigh University ADVANCE Center is part of professional development for faculty.
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Khatchikian, A.D., Chahal, B.S. & Kielar, A. Mosaic mentoring: finding the right mentor for the issue at hand. Abdom Radiol 46, 5480–5484 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00261-021-03314-2
Mentoring has a vital role throughout the medical profession. Over the past few years, mentoring has become an area of focus as being an important aspect of radiologists' career starting from the early trainee level. A variety of mentorship strategies have come to the forefront, allowing many avenues for those seeking to engage in mentorship as either a mentee or mentor. Mosaic mentoring is a new approach that emphasizes utilizing a collection of mentorship approaches to maximize outcomes based on individual and/or domain-specific needs. The purpose of our paper is to provide a brief overview of a variety of mentorship models while introducing the concept of mosaic mentoring and exploring how it can benefit radiologists throughout their career.
Montgomery, B. L. (2017). Mapping a Mentoring Roadmap and Developing a Supportive Network for Strategic Career Advancement. Sage Open, 7(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244017710288 (Original work published 2017)
This article presents a proactive, individual-centered mentoring model which meets a recognized need for defined, practical methods for supporting comprehensive career planning and strategic development grounded in personal career aspirations. The developed model consists of a mentoring roadmap charting process and construction of a developmental mentoring network based on an integrative literature review of successful mentoring practices and adaptation of tested methods for retrospective analyses of effective mentoring. The mentoring roadmap concept encompasses the following steps: (a) self-reflection, (b) establishment of mentor–mentee relationship(s), (c) maintenance of mentoring relationships, and (d) advancing in mentoring relationship(s). To support strategic advancement along a defined mentoring roadmap and toward attainment of individual goals, the identification and cultivation of a broad collection of mentoring resources or mentors (i.e., nodes) and the relationships (i.e., edges) which connect these nodes in an effective mentoring network topology are discussed. The mentoring roadmap and network model is proposed as complementary to top-down or formal organizational mentoring interventions and as effective for short- and long-term career development planning as a self-guided assessment or mentor-engaged tool to support individuals seeking mentoring.
Cross-Cultural Mentoring
Campbell, K.M. and Rodríguez, J.E. (2017). Mentoring Underrepresented Minority in Medicine (URMM) Students Across Racial, Ethnic and Institutional Differences. J Natl Med Assoc. 2018 Oct;110(5):421-423. doi: 10.1016/j.jnma.2017.09.004. Epub 2017 Nov 6. PMID: 30129519. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30129519/
Cross cultural mentoring for underrepresented minority in medicine (URMM) students has increased significance. It is especially important for non-URMM faculty and others from different backgrounds, ethnicities and cultures to know how to provide mentorship for URMM student success. This article provides approaches to mentorship for URMM students. Recommendations include mentoring around scholarly projects, identifying mentorship role, acknowledging personal attributes for mentoring, addressing racism, stereotypes and bias, collaborating with Historically Black Colleges and Universities and being attentive to the unique needs of URMM students.
Crutcher (2007). Mentoring Across Cultures. Academe, 01902946, Jul/Aug2007, Vol. 93, Issue 4
https://diversity.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk731/files/inline-files/Crutcher%2C%20Mentoring%20Across%20Cultures.pdf
Guramatunhu-Mudiwa, P. and Angel, R.B. (2017). Women mentoring in the academe: a faculty cross-racial and cross-cultural experience. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 25(1), 97–118. https://doi.org/10.1080/13611267.2017.1308095
Two women faculty members, one White from the southeastern United States and one Black African from Zimbabwe, purposefully explored their informal mentoring relationship with the goal of illuminating the complexities associated with their cross-racial, cross-cultural experience. Concentrating on their four-year mentor-mentee academic relationship at a predominantly White institution (PWI), these women employed a dialogic duoethnographic methodology to uncover emerging, nuanced characteristics contributing to the positive nature of their mentoring experience. Calling upon a seminal nine-function mentoring framework focused on advancing mentee personal growth and professional advancement, the authors, engaged in critical interplay of dialogic considerations of their mentoring experiences, relationship, and literature. The authors revealed a distinct cross-cultural and cross-racial journey where each, as participant researcher, uncovered a deeper appreciation for the importance of engaged dialog. Emerging is a complex interplay of understandings about trust, care, and power dynamics as factors in defining mentoring relationships that work for good.
White-Lewis, D.K., Romero, A.L., Gutzwa, J.A., and Sylvia Hurtado (2022). "Moving the Science Forward": Faculty Perceptions of Culturally Diverse Mentor Training Benefits, Challenges, and Support. CBE—Life Sciences Education 2022 21:1 https://www.lifescied.org/doi/abs/10.1187/cbe.21-08-0217
There is a pressing need for deeper cultural awareness among postsecondary faculty, yet few studies focus on institutions with developing research infrastructure, which enroll large proportions of racially minoritized students. Using social exchange theory, we investigate faculty members' perceptions of "culturally diverse mentor training," which includes culturally aware mentor (CAM) training, Entering Mentoring, and self-designed mentor training initiatives. Data come from qualitative interviews with 74 faculty who participated in culturally diverse mentor training activities across 10 master's and doctoral institutions in the early stages of implementing grant-funded interventions focused on determining the most effective ways to engage and retain racially minoritized students in biomedical research. Findings indicate that faculty perceived a deepened understanding of their mentees' challenges and developed enhanced communication strategies to better appreciate cultural differences. Faculty reported several challenges, such as difficulty in adopting culturally sustaining practices, balancing multiple commitments internal and external of grant requirements, and dissatisfaction with facilitators from outside their disciplines. They also described supportive structures that decreased their mentoring workload, such as complementary curricula and tiered mentoring models. We conclude with implications for higher education leaders interested in adapting and scaling culturally diverse mentor training interventions within their own departments and institutions.
Windchief, S., Arouca, R., & Brown, B. (2018). Developing an Indigenous Mentoring Program for faculty mentoring American Indian and Alaska Native graduate students in STEM: a qualitative study. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 26(5), 503–523. https://doi.org/10.1080/13611267.2018.1561001
In order to increase graduation rates of American Indian and Alaska Native doctoral candidates in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields, a culturally attuned mentorship program needs to be developed. In our study, we used a conversational method of Indigenous research that privileges relationships and lived experiences to inform such a program. Data was collected in semi-structured interviews using a conversational guide and initial themes were deliberated and refined into a coding framework that was subsequently applied to the data. The themes that emerged from the research included relationality, cultural humility, Indigenous worldviews, suggestions for activities, and resources/support. These themes established the framework for an Indigenous mentoring program (IMP) for faculty mentors of American Indian/Alaska Native graduate students in STEM at four, 4-year institutions and a tribal college.
Womack, V.Y., Wood, C.V., House, S.C., Quinn, S.C., Thomas, S.B., McGee, R., and Byars-Winston, A. (2020). Culturally aware mentorship: Lasting impacts of a novel intervention on academic administrators and faculty. PLOS One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236983
National efforts to address the diversity dilemma in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) often emphasize increasing numbers of historically underrepresented (HU) students and faculty, but fall short in instituting concrete changes for inclusion and belonging. Therefore, increasing the pool of senior faculty who wish to become guides and advocates for emerging scientists from HU populations is an essential step toward creating new pathways for their career advancement. As a step toward achieving this goal, we created a novel eight-hour intervention on Culturally Aware Mentoring (CAM), a program of the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) targeted to faculty and administrators. A previous report of surveys at the end of the CAM sessions revealed substantial awareness and knowledge gains, with participants expressing intentions to use and implement new skills they had learned. In this paper, we provide the results of our thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with academic administrators and faculty, 18–24 months after participation in CAM. Interviews were designed to determine: 1) What changes in self-perceptions and interactions occurred as a result of participation in CAM? 2) What specific components of CAM are associated with changes in individual beliefs and practices? 3) How did participants actively make changes after the CAM workshop? 4) What barriers or challenges do participants encounter after the CAM intervention? The results demonstrate the lasting influences of CAM on participants' awareness of cultural differences, their assumptions about and approaches toward interactions with colleagues and students, and their efforts to change their behaviors to promote inclusive practices in their mentoring and teaching of HU students in STEM. Our findings provide evidence that CAM can be incorporated into existing mentor training programs designed to improve the confidence and capacity of senior research faculty mentors to make culturally-informed, scholar-centered decisions to more deliberately recognize and respond to cultural differences within their mentoring and collegial relationships.
Developing Cultural Competence
First Alaskans Institute
First Alaskans Institute is an Alaska Native advocacy nonprofit focused on the protection and advancement of Alaska Native peoples throughout time, reflected in our vision: Progress for the next 10,000+ years.
New Zealand Psychological Society: Commitment to Te Tiriti
This page has descriptions and short videos exploring the New Zealand Psychological Society's commitment to honoring and implementing cultural competence.
Sealaska Heritage Institute
Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI), a private nonprofit founded in 1980, mission is to advance Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures of Southeast Alaska. Sealaska Heritage also conducts scientific and public policy research that promotes Alaska Native arts, cultures, history, and education statewide.
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) Talks
From October 2020 to April 2021, two graduate students from the Geophysical Institute (GI) and International Arctic Research Center (IARC) with career interests in working with Indigenous People developed a virtual lecture series on fostering understanding among scientists in regard to working with Indigenous People. The 11 video episodes cover topics such as cross-cultural miscommunication, strengthening collaborations, and allyship with native peoples.
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Byars-Winston, A., Womack, V.Y., Butz, A.R., McGee, R., Quinn, S.C., Utzerath, E., Saetermoe, C.L., and Thomas, S. (2018). Pilot Study of an Intervention to Increase Cultural Awareness in Research Mentoring: Implications for Diversifying the Scientific Workforce. J Clin Transl Sci. 2018 Apr;2(2):86-94. doi: 10.1017/cts.2018.25. Epub 2018 Aug 8. PMID: 30338131; PMCID: PMC6191051. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30338131/
Introduction: Innovative evidence-based-interventions are needed to equip research mentors with skills to address cultural diversity within research mentoring relationships. A pilot study assessed initial outcomes of a culturally tailored effort to create and disseminate a novel intervention titled Culturally Aware Mentoring (CAM) for research mentors.
Intervention: Intervention development resulted in four products: a 6hr CAM training curriculum, a facilitator guide, an online pre-training module, and metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of CAM training.
Method: Participants were 64 research mentors from three US research-intensive universities. Quantitative pre and post-training evaluation survey data were collected.
Results: Participants found high value and satisfaction with the CAM training, reported gains in personal cultural awareness and cultural skills, and increased intentions and confidence to address cultural diversity in their mentoring.
Conclusions: Study findings indicate that the CAM training holds promise to build research mentors' capacity and confidence to engage directly with racial/ethnic topics in research mentoring relationships.
Frawley, J., Russell, G., and Sherwood, J. (2020). Cultural Competence and the Higher Education Sector: Australian Perspectives, Policies and Practice. Springer Singapore. 363 p. ISBN: 978-981-15-5362-2. (Open Access eBook)
This open access book explores cultural competence in the higher education sector from multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary perspectives. It addresses cultural competence in terms of leadership and the role of the higher education sector in cultural competence policy and practice. Drawing on lessons learned, current research and emerging evidence, the book examines various innovative approaches and strategies that incorporate Indigenous knowledge and practices into the development and implementation of cultural competence, and considers the most effective approaches for supporting cultural competence in the higher education sector. This book will appeal to researchers, scholars, policy-makers, practitioners and general readers interested in cultural competence policy and practice.
Kimmerer, R.W. (2015). Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions. 408 p. ISBN: 9781571313560.
Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In a rich braid of reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.
Medin, D.L. and Bang, M. (2014). Who's Asking?: Native Science, Western Science, and Science Education. MIT Press. 296 p. ISBN: 9780262319447.
The answers to scientific questions depend on who's asking, because the questions asked and the answers sought reflect the cultural values and orientations of the questioner. These values and orientations are most often those of Western science. In Who's Asking?, Douglas Medin and Megan Bang argue that despite the widely held view that science is objective, value-neutral, and acultural, scientists do not shed their cultures at the laboratory or classroom door; their practices reflect their values, belief systems, and worldviews. Medin and Bang argue further that scientist diversity—the participation of researchers and educators with different cultural orientations—provides new perspectives and leads to more effective science and better science education.
Reid, A.J., Eckert, L.E., Lane, J-F., et al. "Two-Eyed Seeing": An Indigenous framework to transform fisheries research and management. Fish Fish. 2021; 22: 243–261. https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12516
Increasingly, fisheries researchers and managers seek or are compelled to "bridge" Indigenous knowledge systems with Western scientific approaches to understanding and governing fisheries. Here, we move beyond the all-too-common narrative about integrating or incorporating (too often used as euphemisms for assimilating) other knowledge systems into Western science, instead of building an ethic of knowledge coexistence and complementarity in knowledge generation using Two-Eyed Seeing as a guiding framework. Two-Eyed Seeing (Etuaptmumk in Mi'kmaw) embraces "learning to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of mainstream knowledges and ways of knowing, and to use both these eyes together, for the benefit of all," as envisaged by Elder Dr. Albert Marshall. In this paper, we examine the notion of knowledge dichotomies and imperatives for knowledge coexistence and draw parallels between Two-Eyed Seeing and other analogous Indigenous frameworks from around the world. It is set apart from other Indigenous frameworks in its explicit action imperative—central to Two-Eyed Seeing is the notion that knowledge transforms the holder and that the holder bears a responsibility to act on that knowledge. We explore its operationalization through three Canadian aquatic and fisheries case-studies that co-develop questions, document and mobilize knowledge, and co-produce insights and decisions. We argue that Two-Eyed Seeing provides a pathway to a plural coexistence, where time-tested Indigenous knowledge systems can be paired with, not subsumed by, Western scientific insights for an equitable and sustainable future.
Impactful Practices
Addressing Stereotype Threat
Picture a Scientist
This documentary film from PBS provides new perspectives on how to make science itself more diverse, equitable, and open to all.
Stereotype Threat and Solo Status
The SAGE 2YC project aimed to strengthen geoscience education at two-year colleges (2YCs). Given that 2YCs enroll a much more diverse student population, addressing stereotype threat and solo status was one of the approaches that faculty received professional development around.
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Francis, B., Archer, L., Moote, J., de Witt, J., and Yeomans, L. (2016). Femininity, science, and the denigration of the girly girl. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 38(8), 1097–1110. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2016.1253455
Hyper-femininity and the construction of the 'girly girl' label have been documented widely, but there has been less attention to their content (or any distinctions between these constructs). Indeed, it can be argued that the content of femininity remains a controversial and somewhat under-researched topic in feminist scholarship. This is also the case in relation to science, which has been widely characterised as a masculine terrain, but there has been less attention to why femininity is excluded from/by science. This article attempts to unpick some of these issues, with a particular focus on the construct of the 'girly girl', in relation to access to science. Drawing on qualitative data from the Economic and Social Research Council-funded ASPIRES 2 project, we analyse the discourses used by young people and parents in discussion of 'girly girls' and physics. We show the misogynist and excluding discourses projected onto the 'girly girl', and indeed that are used to interpolate femininity more broadly. We found that in discussions of science and (hyper-)femininity, even potentially positive feminine attributes were denigrated. Hyper-femininity was produced as 'more than lack': vacuous, but also a risible presence. In reflecting on our findings we consider whether femininity may be more derided in some discursive contexts (e.g. science discourse) than others, and whether femininity can or should be conceived as more than lack.
Wolverton, A., Nagaoka, L., Wolverton, M., and Dean, D.J. (2015). Breaking In: Women's Accounts of How Choices Shape STEM Careers. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003443308
Why is it that, while women in the United States have generally made great strides in establishing parity with their male counterparts in educational attainment, they remain substantially underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)? Why is it that, in proportion to the PhDs they obtain in STEM, they attain fewer administrative and managerial positions in academia and industry than their numbers warrant and, moreover, are more likely leave the field once started in their careers? In the culture and context of women's advancement and satisfaction with careers in STEM, the data show that many challenges and obstacles remain.By showcasing the stories of eight women scientists who have achieved successful careers in the academy, industry and government, Breaking In offers vivid insights into the challenges and barriers that women face in entering STEM while also describing these women's motivations, the choices they made along their paths, and the intellectual satisfactions and excitement of scientific discovery they derive from their work.Breaking In underscores issues aspiring women scientists will encounter on their journeys and what they can do to forestall potential obstacles, advocate for change, and fulfill their ambitions. And it speaks to the question: What can be done to encourage more women to specialize in science, mathematics, and engineering? In doctoral granting institutions, where women must start if they hope to earn advanced degrees, Breaking In can serve both as a student text and as guide for department chairs and deans who are concerned about organizational climate and culture and their impact on retention in STEM fields. At a broader level, this book offers advice and inspiration to women contemplating entering STEM fields, as well to the teachers, researchers, and administrators responsible for nurturing these women, growing enrollments in their disciplines, and developing creative and intellectual capital that the nation needs to compete in the global marketplace.
Field Courses
Beltran, R. S., Marnocha, E., Race, A., Croll, D. A., Dayton, G. H., and Zavaleta, E. S. (2020). Field courses narrow demographic achievement gaps in ecology and evolutionary biology. Ecology and Evolution, 10(12), 5184-5196. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32607142/
Disparities remain in the representation of marginalized students in STEM. Classroom-based experiential learning opportunities can increase student confidence and academic success; however, the effectiveness of extending learning to outdoor settings is unknown. Our objectives were to examine (a) demographic gaps in ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB) major completion, college graduation, and GPAs for students who did and did not enroll in field courses, (b) whether under-represented demographic groups were less likely to enroll in field courses, and (c) whether under-represented demographic groups were more likely to feel increased competency in science-related tasks (hereafter, self-efficacy) after participating in field courses. We compared the relationships among academic success measures and demographic data (race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, first-generation, and gender) for UC Santa Cruz undergraduate students admitted between 2008 and 2019 who participated in field courses (N = 941 students) and who did not (N = 28,215 students). Additionally, we administered longitudinal surveys to evaluate self-efficacy gains during field-based versus classroom-based courses (N = 570 students). We found no differences in the proportion of students matriculating at the university as undecided, proposed EEB, or proposed other majors across demographic groups. However, five years later, under-represented students were significantly less likely to graduate with EEB degrees, indicating retention rather than recruitment drives disparities in representation. This retention gap is partly due to a lower rate of college completion and partly through attrition to other majors. Although under-represented students were less likely to enroll in field courses, field courses were associated with higher self-efficacy gains, higher college graduation rates, higher EEB major retention, and higher GPAs at graduation. All demographic groups experienced significant increases in self-efficacy during field-based but not lecture-based courses. Together, our findings suggest that increasing the number of field courses and actively facilitating access to students from under-represented groups can be a powerful tool for increasing STEM diversity.
Race, A. I., De Jesus, M., Beltran, R. S., and Zavaleta, E. S. (2021). A comparative study between outcomes of an in‐person versus online introductory field course. Ecology and evolution, 11(8), 3625-3635. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8057336/
The COVID‐19 pandemic has disrupted many standard approaches to STEM education. Particularly impacted were field courses, which rely on specific natural spaces often accessed through shared vehicles. As in‐person field courses have been found to be particularly impactful for undergraduate student success in the sciences, we aimed to compare and understand what factors may have been lost or gained during the conversion of an introductory field course to an online format. Using a mixed methods approach comparing data from online and in‐person field‐course offerings, we found that while community building was lost in the online format, online participants reported increased self‐efficacy in research and observation skills and connection to their local space. The online field course additionally provided positive mental health breaks for students who described the time outside as a much‐needed respite. We maintain that through intentional design, online field courses can provide participants with similar outcomes to in‐person field courses.
Undergraduate Research
Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences Network (CUREnet)
CUREnet was established in 2012 to support networking among faculty developing, teaching, and assessing CUREs, to share CURE projects and resources, and to develop new tools and strategies for CURE instruction and assessment.
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Frederick, A., Grineski, S. E., Collins, T. W., Daniels, H. A., and Morales, D. X. (2021). The Emerging STEM Paths and Science Identities of Hispanic/Latinx College Students: Examining the Impact of Multiple Undergraduate Research Experiences. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 20(2). https://www.lifescied.org/doi/pdf/10.1187/cbe.20-08-0191
This study reports findings from 19 interviews with Hispanic/Latinx students participating in a university-wide, multiyear program designed to retain students from underrepresented backgrounds in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at a Hispanic-serving institution. We focus on the impact that having multiple opportunities to engage in faculty-mentored, cocurricular undergraduate research experiences (UREs) had on students' STEM paths in college and the cultivation of their science identities. In addition to professional and psychosocial benefits, our findings suggest that having the opportunity to spend multiple summers in UREs at partnering institutions away from home helped to strengthen Hispanic/Latinx students' comfort levels with being away from their families and helped them recognize the broad range of opportunities available to them for graduate school.
Haeger, H. and Fresquez, C. (2016). Mentoring for inclusion: The impact of mentoring on undergraduate researchers in the sciences. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 15(3), ar36. https://www.lifescied.org/doi/full/10.1187/cbe.16-01-0016
Increasing inclusion of underrepresented minority and first-generation students in mentored research experiences both increases diversity in the life sciences research community and prepares students for successful careers in these fields. However, analyses of the impact of mentoring approaches on specific student gains are limited. This study addresses the impact of mentoring strategies within research experiences on broadening access to the life sciences by examining both how these experiences impacted student success and how the quality of mentorship affected the development of research and academic skills for a diverse population of students at a public, minority-serving institution. Institutional data on student grades and graduation rates (n = 348) along with postresearch experience surveys (n = 138) found that students mentored in research had significantly higher cumulative grade point averages and similar graduation rates as a matched set of peers. Examination of the relationships between student-reported gains and mentoring strategies demonstrated that socioemotional and culturally relevant mentoring impacted student development during mentored research experiences. Additionally, extended engagement in research yielded significantly higher development of research-related skills and level of independence in research. Recommendations are provided for using mentoring to support traditionally underrepresented students in the sciences.
Other Practices
National Association of Community and Restorative Justice
NACRJ advances community and restorative justice as a social movement by serving people and organizations committed to building community and addressing harm. The organization provides guidance and support to establish high-quality practices with fidelity to restorative principles.
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Herrera, C., Vang, Z., and Gale, L.Y. (2002). Group Mentoring: A Study of Mentoring Groups in Three Programs. Public/Private Ventures. 75 p. https://ppv.issuelab.org/resource/group-mentoring-a-study-of-mentoring-groups-in-three-programs.html
In an effort to provide more youth with mentors, mentoring programs are implementing several promising new approaches. This report describes the strengths and challenges of group mentoring-an approach that is gaining popularity. Findings suggest that group mentoring is reaching youth and volunteers who are unlikely to participate in traditional one-on-one mentoring, and that the approach may provide youth with important benefits, especially the development of social skills. On the other hand, mentoring groups vary widely in their size, structure and focus, and in the extent to which they foster strong mentoring relationships and benefits for youth. Implications for the mentoring field and for future research are discussed.
Stelter, R.L., Kupersmidt, J.B. and Stump, K.N. (2021). Establishing effective STEM mentoring relationships through mentor training. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 1483: 224-243. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14470
Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) mentoring programs typically have the goals of generating interest and excitement in STEM topics and careers and supporting STEM career achievement persistence. These outcomes are fostered through positive and trusting relationships with mentors. Mentors in STEM programs often have extensive subject matter expertise in a STEM content area, but they may lack the knowledge, attitudes, and skills that are important for establishing an effective mentoring relationship with a young person. The purpose of this review is to describe (1) a set of topics recommended for inclusion in STEM mentor training, based on a literature review, and (2) the current state of implementation of these recommended training topics among STEM mentoring programs in the United States. We have identified four major topic areas to include in the training of STEM mentors: (1) knowledge and attitudes regarding disparities in STEM career achievement, (2) mentor roles that promote STEM outcomes, (3) behaviors to promote mentees' positive attitudes about STEM, and (4) program-specific topics. Training for mentors should prepare them with the knowledge they need to support their mentee being successful in a STEM education or career while fostering the skills they need to establish an effective mentoring relationship.
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