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Mentoring relationships in academia have traditionally been described as a dyad between a mentor and a mentee. The mentor provides the mentee with both technical and psychosocial support to move toward obtaining their Ph.D. or gaining tenure and promotion. While there is an embedded assumption that mentoring is best suited when people of common background support each other, scholars must consider the impact of mentoring across differences. Given the lack of diversity among senior faculty members in science education, and given the increasing diversity represented among graduate students and early career scholars in science education, inevitably mentoring relationships will be formed across differences in identities (race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability). In our essay, we focus on two focal points: we explore those aspects of mentoring relationships that research suggests are critical to the success of relationships built across differences, foregrounding lessons science education researchers can take from this literature and arguing that it is too much to expect one individual mentor to provide to any given mentee. Next, we propose a brokering framework, leveraging technological advances, to work toward more transformative mentoring outcomes at scale, particularly when mentoring across differences.
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Advancing understanding of discordant mentoring relationships in STEMM: A method and framework
Abstract Having a diverse workforce in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine) fields is essential for the United States to remain competitive in the global economy and to create a more just society. Faculty‐mentored undergraduate research experiences have been identified as a high‐impact practice for encouraging students from diverse backgrounds to pursue STEMM education and careers. Despite extensive research examining factors influencing the effectiveness of mentor−mentee relationships, there is still limited understanding of how differences or similarities in the social identities of mentors and mentees, which we term mentor−mentee discordance, impact undergraduates’ research experiences and outcomes. In this perspective, we propose that mentor−mentee discordance should be conceptualized as a multidimensional, continuous construct and suggest a global index to measure varying degrees of discordance in mentoring relationships. We also offer a conceptual model that incorporates the Discordance Index to systematize the understanding of the effects of discordant mentoring relationships on student development across social contexts and over time. Finally, we provide recommendations for future researchers, STEMM educators, and program directors who are interested in using the Discordance Index.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2055379
- PAR ID:
- 10442221
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
- Volume:
- 1526
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0077-8923
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 8-15
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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