They say goodbye, we say hello: understanding the relational phases of equity-minded STEMM graduate-undergraduate mentorship

ABSTRACT

Mentoring relationships are among the most crucial forms of developmental support for students in higher education. While mentorship has been widely studied, researchers’ conceptualizations and frameworks of mentoring relationships have scarcely been updated with notions of equity-mindedness to meet the needs of today’s increasingly diverse student population. Using qualitative data from 10 doctoral students serving as mentors to undergraduates in STEMM, this study examines the strengths and shortcomings of Kram’s model about the phases of mentoring relationships. By extending four decades of research on these well-established phases of mentoring (i.e., initiation, cultivation, separation, redefinition) with understandings from the equity-minded mentoring model, findings illustrate how the phases of graduate-undergraduate mentoring are shaped by mentors’ social identities and larger organizational dynamics. Collectively, study findings illuminate new empirical understandings about STEMM graduate students’ roles as mentors and move conceptualizations about relational mentoring phases toward equity-minded understandings.

KEYWORDS:

• Mentor development
• mentorship
• graduate education
• STEM
• equity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ To conceptualize mentorship, I apply the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) definition: ‘Mentorship is a professional, working alliance in which individuals work together over time to support the personal and professional growth, development, and success of the relational partners through the provision of career and psychosocial support’ (National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019, p. 2).

² Equity-mindedness presses one to be ‘cognizant that exclusionary practices, institutional racism, and power asymmetries impact opportunities and outcomes’ for racially/ethnically minoritized students, promoting advocacy in and responsibility for addressing institutional dysfunctions (Bensimon, 2007, p. 446). Here, I adopt equity-mindedness to discuss racial/ethnic and additional forms of minoritization.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the UCLA Graduate Division; P.E.O. International.