Perceived social and academic roles of peer mentors in a pre-health college program

ABSTRACT

Peer mentors can significantly influence the success of undergraduates, particularly in science programs for those identifying as first-generation and historically marginalized. We sought to better understand the roles and expectations of the peer mentors themselves in a pre-health program for first-generation students, many of whom identify as marginalized. Therefore, we asked: (1) What are the perceptions of peer mentors regarding their roles in providing (1) academic and (2) social support to mentees? We conducted interviews with five peer mentors of this pre-health program in Fall 2017 and Spring 2018. Our findings suggest that multiple benefits and challenges are perceived by peer mentors of this program in regard to academic and social roles–and that these perceptions are generally not exclusive to first generation-focused college programs. We suggest that in the future, similar pre-health programs should offer more pedagogical professional development opportunities for peer mentors and access to necessary course resources.

KEYWORDS:

• Peer mentoring
• biology undergraduates
• first-generation
• BIPOC
• academic support
• social role

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Peer Mentor Program (i.e. its administrative staff) for allowing us to conduct this research. We thank the participants for dedicating their time and offering honesty in their experiences. We acknowledge Lori Reinsvold and Susan Keenan for their support of this research and additionally thank Susan Keenan for her friendly review of our manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was not funded by any grants.

Notes on contributors

Ashley B. Heim

Ashley B. Heim was a Ph.D. Candidate in Biological Education in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado when this study was conducted. Her research focused on the impacts of how undergraduates learn at informal settings such as zoos, as well as learner-centeredness of undergraduate biology classrooms. She is now a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University developing an instrument to measure students’ critical thinking in ecology lab and field courses.

Emily A. Holt

Emily A. Holt is an Associate Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado. Her research generally focuses on learner-centeredness of undergraduate biology classrooms as well as disturbance ecology and community responses of vascular plants, mosses, and lichens.