Academic Life-support: The Self Study of a Transnational Collaborative Mentoring Group

Abstract

In this paper, we examined the collaborative mentoring processes of a transnational network. A narrative approach was employed to explore the mentoring practices and experiences of 19 women involved in the CURVE-Y-FRiENDs (C-Y-F) network. Their mentoring practices go beyond transnational, ethnic, discipline, and university borders. The processes employed in the network can be conceptualized as pathways to professional relationships. The narratives of C-Y-F members illustrated collaborative mentoring as an expression of the personal and professional dimensions of support, which must be part of academic life. Collaborative mentoring relationships and discourse provided a response to the current inconsistencies in faculty mentoring practices and have implications for the ways in which administrations and faculty in general initiate more empathetic structures and procedures that better meet the mentoring needs of women and minority faculty in academia.

Keywords:

• transnational collaborations
• mentoring networks
• critical dialog