Publications and Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-2017
Abstract
This paper is from the perspective of three women who are psychology faculty members at various points in their professional development. It was written with the intention to promote ways for students and faculty members of color to construct representations of themselves as mentors. The New York City College of Technology’s (City Tech) participation in National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institute of Health (NIH) grants, as well as institutionally-funded research initiatives, provided the authors with a context for engaging undergraduate students through research within the field of psychology. City Tech is a Hispanic serving institution with an urban campus landscape in downtown Brooklyn, New York. The majority of both faculty and students participating in grant- and institutionally-funded research identify as persons of color, women, or both, and tend to be first-generation college students and graduates. The underrepresentation of racial minorities and women within the STEM disciplines motivated the authors to create transformative environments that ensured individuals truly achieve full participation benefits as mentors and mentees. Mentoring expands itself to outreach, retention, and recruitment for students of color (Chan, Hom & Montclare, 2011; Daloz, 1990; Thile & Matt, 1995). Peer mentoring also improves rates of retention and persistence through the creation of supportive relationships and learning communities (e.g., Liou Mark, Dreyfuss & Younge, 2010) among students from underrepresented groups. Psychologist W. Johnson and colleagues (2013) refer to a similar network of relationships among professional psychologists as a “Competence Constellation”: the groups of relationships that a professional has with people both interested and active in advancing one another’s well-being and professional development. These relationships, among faculty mentors and mentees, give individuals a sense of being connected to the larger community and strengthen their commitment towards scholarship and mentoring. The authors assert that research involvement offers multi-directional benefits to students and psychology faculty, peer-to-peer networking, enhanced student learning, and improved institutional reputation. We begin with a description of each psychology faculty member and their mentoring philosophy/model, then move on to highlight examples illustrating successful mentoring, and, ultimately, conclude with a discussion of overall themes that emerge at the intersection of our experiences.
Comments
This article was originally published in The Chronicle of Mentoring & Coaching.