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By encouraging the development of a community of practice, peer mentoring can be a high impact component of a teaching professional development program. However, in implementing our program for novice instructors in the mathematical sciences, we found that pairing up peers and encouraging regular meetings was insufficient to create this desired connection. This article describes our solution, a just-in-time conversation tool called Office Talks, and the impact it had in creating rich mentor-mentee relationships. We provide steps to help others in designing office talks that fit the unique needs of their peer-mentoring program. 

A comprehensive graduate teaching assistant (GTA) training program in mathematical sciences designed at one institution is being adapted and replicated at two peer institutions. Using a case study approach, this paper outlines the development of the program components, which include a first-year teaching seminar, peer mentoring and support from a peer TA Coach, a Critical Issues in STEM Education seminar, and K-12 outreach to inform understanding of the pipeline. Additionally, adaptations due to institutional context and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic are described. Implications for components of the comprehensive program, based on GTA-provided feedback, are discussed. 

Peer mentoring programs are one approach to improving the pedagogical development of mathematical sciences graduate students. This paper describes the peer mentoring experiences at three institutions that have implemented a multi-faceted GTA professional development program. Data was collected from surveys and focus groups conducted with graduate teaching assistants at each institution regarding mentees’ ratings of their mentors, mentors’ ratings of their impact on mentees, mentors’ impressions of the benefits and challenges of peer mentoring, and mentees and mentors’ ratings of program components related to support from mentors, their TA coach, program staff, and other graduate students. Most GTAs found value in participating in the peer mentoring program. While the mentees found their mentors to be significant to their own success and effectiveness, the mentors did not rate themselves as high as the mentees rated them with respect to their own significance in impacting the effectiveness of their mentee. 

Promoting equity in undergraduate mathematics education is of vital importance, yet has received considerably less attention than equity in K-12 mathematics. The current study focuses on a pedagogical training program for graduate teaching assistants’ (GTAs), which emphasizes equity in their teaching of undergraduates. The study examines GTAs’ journals and open-ended survey responses, including their definitions of equity and the ways they promote equity in their classrooms. The research will foster discourse about ways of promoting equity in undergraduate mathematics and about professional development for undergraduate mathematics instructors.