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Although institutions of higher education have placed a large emphasis on increasing the number of underrepresented minority (URM) students matriculating in higher education, the disparities in STEM retention and graduation rates between URM and non-URM students emphasize the dire need for increased support to help URM students navigate challenges including stereotype threat, impostor phenomenon, and lack of social connectedness that disproportionately affect URM students in majority-dominated fields. Prior research has demonstrated that structured mentoring has the potential to generate substantial improvements in academic, social, and career outcomes for URM STEM students. In particular, network-based mentoring approaches that allow for students to receive both professional and peer mentoring, as well as the opportunity to mentor other students, have demonstrated success in this realm. In this article, we discuss how the current state of academia often fails URM STEM students and faculty, review literature regarding the ways in which structured mentoring approaches can alleviate barriers to success among URM groups in STEM fields, and offer recommendations regarding how academic institutions can successfully implement holistic student and faculty mentoring programs.
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This content will become publicly available on June 18, 2026
Developing and Testing a Multi-Stage Faculty Mentoring Framework
Underrepresented minority (URM) faculty in higher education institutions often lack equal access to mentoring which contributes to high turnover rates. Even with equal access for all faculty, existing mentoring structures may not adequately address the unique needs of URM faculty across the career-span. We developed a Multi-Stage Mentoring Framework which utilizes a network of mentors to attend to the instrumental and psychosocial needs of faculty at every career stage. We evaluated how well existing mentoring programs at one university fit into the framework. Using both quantitative and qualitative responses, we determined that this constellation of institutional mentoring programs cumulatively provide opportunities for both instrumental and psychosocial formal mentoring support for faculty who span the early through late career stages.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2121654
- PAR ID:
- 10627187
- Publisher / Repository:
- https://www.advancejournal.org/
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The advance journal
- Volume:
- 6
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2643-7031
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Faculty Mentoring Psychosocial Support Diverse Faculty Instrumental Support
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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