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Mentoring is an important aspect of mathematics teacher education, and in particular, pre-service teacher education. Faculty at a large Midwestern university developed and refined a mentoring program designed to help pre-service secondary mathematics teachers, called Scholars, become future leaders in mathematics education. This paper describes how faculty mentors leveraged challenges in the mentoring program’s early stages based on their reflections and initial mentee outcomes to create a more effective mentoring program. Recommendations based on research and practice are provided for other university programs interested in mentoring future mathematics teachers. 

The NebraskaMATH Omaha Noyce Partnership Scholarship awards scholarships funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to undergraduate students interested in mathematics education at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). Scholars, who are dual mathematics and secondary education majors, are engaged and supported by Noyce faculty to not only excel in their college coursework and career preparation, but also to serve the university and community through teaching assistantships and STEM community outreach. The main goal of this program is to strengthen and expand the pipeline for preparing high-quality teachers of mathematics to better meet the responsibilities and demands of local school districts, particularly those serving students with high-need. Cross-campus collaborations between the departments of teacher education and mathematics co-constructed the Noyce infrastructure to emphasize and share the development of future, high-quality secondary mathematics teachers (Mathematics Teacher Education Partnership, 2014). This paper describes our program’s unique design and implementation features aimed to empower, engage, and extend the talents of our undergraduate students. We share lessons learned and recommendations from faculty and participants regarding decisions and facets of the program considered to be most influential in STEM teacher and leadership development.