Understanding the Effects of Faculty Mentoring

Mentoring opportunities are conventionally understood to be a critical component in the retention and academic success of under-represented racial and ethnic minority (URM) students in science research. It is generally regarded that faculty support, motivation, and advisory provided through mentoring meaningfully contribute to students’ increased social capital in STEM research as well as their identities as scientists. The support of students’ emotional development and helping students to learn essential tasks of science career development are also viewed to cultivate science self-efficacy, or students’ confidence in their abilities to function as scientists. Ultimately, faculty support and encouragement, and the exposure and experiences afforded by mentoring activities are believed to increase URM undergraduate academic achievement and persistence--benefits expected to carry over into graduate school attendance and success.

As a test of these perceived associations, some research has been conducted to understand what beneficial student outcomes might result from participation in mentoring activities. For example, mentorship has been shown to improve the recruitment of URM students into research-related pathways (Hathaway, et al, 2002; Gregerman, et. al, 1998). However, our understanding of what specific aspects of mentoring lead to students’ career advancement and improved psychosocial support is largely anecdotal. This is particularly true with respect to URM, and other under-represented student groups (URGs) pursuing careers in biomedical research. It has become clear that a larger evidence base is needed in exploring how URG students engage with their mentors. Specifically, how individual cultural factors like race, ethnicity, and gender influence mentoring relationships, and what variations in mentoring effectiveness are associated with different forms of mentoring (ex., peer mentoring, near-peer mentoring, or junior-senior faculty mentoring) call for empirical investigation (Pfund, et. al, 2016). Understanding the affects and effects of mentoring approaches like Culturally Responsive Mentoring is also an area deserving of additional research.

The participation of BUILD sites and NRMN in the collection of mentoring data, and the documentation of mentoring activities and interventions, should make a substantial contribution to this need. As a consortium, the collaborative effort to measure, monitor, and track the qualities and effect of mentoring programs presents a unique opportunity to broadly evidence whether and how mentoring can positively impact URG participation and persistence in biomedical research careers.