Keys to Successful Cross-Race Mentoring Relationships: Perspectives from Mentees and Mentors

Sylvia L. Mendez; Jennifer Tygret; Anneke Bruwer; Comas Lamar Haynes; Jacqueline A. El-Sayed; Ray Phillips

Keys to Successful Cross-Race Mentoring Relationships: Perspectives from Mentees and Mentors

Sylvia L. Mendez
, Jennifer Tygret
, Anneke Bruwer
, Comas Lamar Haynes
, Jacqueline A. El-Sayed
, Ray Phillips

Educational Leadership Studies

Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › peer-review

Abstract

This research paper explores the keys to successful cross-race mentoring identified by mentees and mentors in the Increasing Minority Presence within Academia through Continuous Training (IMPACT) mentoring program. Two iterations of the IMPACT program paired Black engineering faculty with primarily White male emeriti engineering faculty for career-focused mentorship, networking, and advocacy. A great need exists to better understand that which facilitates successful cross-race mentoring, as it is the standard in the engineering professoriate due to the underrepresentation of senior and emeriti faculty of color in engineering academia. Thus, this intrinsic case study explores the perspectives of 16 mentees and 14 mentors on the keys to successful cross-race mentoring. Participant interviews were analyzed inductively and resulted in three themes: (1) self-awareness and empathy create trusting, honest conversations; (2) mentee career advancement must be core to the relationship; and (3) a history of racial allyship from the mentor is required. These findings reveal the importance of the IMPACT mentoring program creating successful mentoring matches in which mentees and mentors demonstrate self-awareness and empathy, focus on mentee career advancement, and mentors possessing a keen cognizance of the ways in which racism affects the lives and careers of Black faculty.

Original language	English
Journal	ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings
State	Published - Jun 25 2023
Event	2023 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition - The Harbor of Engineering: Education for 130 Years, ASEE 2023 - Baltimore, United States Duration: Jun 25 2023 → Jun 28 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© American Society for Engineering Education, 2023.

Funding

The IMPACT mentoring program was sponsored by an NSF Broadening Participation in Engineering award in 2015 (award #1542524) and an NSF INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science) Design and Developments Launch Pilot award in 2017 (award #1744500). The program was developed through an extensive literature review with a targeted focus on diverse mentoring relationships in STEM fields (Johnson, 2016; Kram, 1985; Lechuga, 2014). The program intended to serve as an innovative strategy to complement prevailing approaches that support the mentorship, networking, and advocacy of engineering faculty of color by renowned emeriti faculty uniquely positioned to provide these resources. Including emeriti faculty also served as a vehicle for retirees to continue making meaningful contributions to the profession. Research has demonstrated that mentoring provides an important source of identity, recognition, and connection for retirees (Goldberg & Baldwin, 2018; Mendez et al., 2019). Engaging emeriti rather than senior faculty was purposeful for capitalizing on their greater discretionary time while taking advantage of their wealth of experience in academia. The primary goal of the IMPACT program was to match renowned emeriti faculty with Black faculty mentees as they navigated the university promotion and tenure processes and established a greater professional presence in their field. Due to the demographic inertia of the field, the emeriti faculty were primarily White men; only one male of color (South Asian) and one White woman served as mentors. This research is sponsored by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Broadening Participation in Engineering Track 3 award (#2217745). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations belong solely to the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF. Comas Lamar Haynes is a Principal Research Engineer / faculty member of the Georgia Tech Research Institute and Joint Faculty Appointee at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His research includes modeling steady state and transient behavior of advanced energy systems, inclusive of their thermal management, and the characterization and optimization of novel cycles. He has advised graduate and undergraduate research assistants and has received multi-agency funding for energy systems analysis and development. Sponsor examples include the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy and NASA. Dr. Haynes also develops fuel cells and alternative energy systems curricula for public and college courses and experimental laboratories. Additionally, he is the co-developer of the outreach initiative, Educators Leading Energy Conservation and Training Researchers of Diverse Ethnicities (ELECTRoDE). He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Florida A&M University and his graduate degrees (culminating in a Ph.D.) from Georgia Tech; and all of the degrees are in the discipline of Mechanical Engineering.

Funders	Funder number
National Science Foundation Arctic Social Science Program	1542524, 2217745, 1744500
U.S. Department of Energy
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Engineering

Cite this

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title = "Keys to Successful Cross-Race Mentoring Relationships: Perspectives from Mentees and Mentors",

abstract = "This research paper explores the keys to successful cross-race mentoring identified by mentees and mentors in the Increasing Minority Presence within Academia through Continuous Training (IMPACT) mentoring program. Two iterations of the IMPACT program paired Black engineering faculty with primarily White male emeriti engineering faculty for career-focused mentorship, networking, and advocacy. A great need exists to better understand that which facilitates successful cross-race mentoring, as it is the standard in the engineering professoriate due to the underrepresentation of senior and emeriti faculty of color in engineering academia. Thus, this intrinsic case study explores the perspectives of 16 mentees and 14 mentors on the keys to successful cross-race mentoring. Participant interviews were analyzed inductively and resulted in three themes: (1) self-awareness and empathy create trusting, honest conversations; (2) mentee career advancement must be core to the relationship; and (3) a history of racial allyship from the mentor is required. These findings reveal the importance of the IMPACT mentoring program creating successful mentoring matches in which mentees and mentors demonstrate self-awareness and empathy, focus on mentee career advancement, and mentors possessing a keen cognizance of the ways in which racism affects the lives and careers of Black faculty.",

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Keys to Successful Cross-Race Mentoring Relationships: Perspectives from Mentees and Mentors

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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