Underrepresented faculty mentoring at a distance: program implementation and evaluation

ABSTRACT

Underrepresented minority (URM) faculty hold about 10% of tenured positions, despite URM comprising more than 30% of the United States population; thus, disparities remain in the recruitment, development, retention and promotion of diverse faculty in large part because of a lack of mentoring. Research suggests that mentoring from senior URM faculty will lower URM faculty attrition rates and lead to success in tenure and promotion. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a mentoring program for new URM faculty in the areas of teaching, advising, research, service, and mastery of subject matter. New URM faculty were matched with URM mentors and received monthly virtual mentoring. Results demonstrated substantial growth in each area post-program, with statistically significant outcomes in the areas of teaching and advising. Faculty reported substantial benefits including sharing experiences, relationship building, lessened feelings of isolation, and increased knowledge of tenure and promotion expectations.

KEYWORDS:

• Diversity
• higher education
• faculty
• mentoring

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elizabeth Gates Bradley

Dr. Elizabeth Bradley is an Associate Professor in the School for Graduate Studies at SUNY Empire State College. She received her Ph.D. in school psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and she is a licensed psychologist and a nationally certified school psychologist. Dr. Bradley has worked with at-risk youth in hospital, residential home, and public school settings and she has published and presented in the areas of substance use interventions, the neuropsychological abilities of children, and training and school-based interventions for at-risk adolescents, with a focus on the use of online simulations in pre-service teacher training as well as faculty mentoring.

Nan Eileen Mead

Nan Eileen Mead is a graduate of the Masters in Social and Public Policy program at SUNY Empire State College. She is a member of the Board of Regents of the State Education Department where she focuses on researching and developing policies based on principles of equity, diversity and inclusion. Previously she was a longtime public school parent advocate and community organizer. She has a BA in Politics from New York University.