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arXiv · 2209.03395

A model of mentorship for students from historically underrepresented groups in STEM

M. K. Rodriguez Wimberly·Alexander L. Rudolph·Carol Hood·Rachel E. Scherr·Christine Pfund
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Abstract

Mentorship is critical to student academic success and persistence, especially for students from historically underrepresented (HU) groups. In a program designed to support the academic success of HU undergraduates in STEM who wish to pursue a PhD in those fields, students experience comprehensive support including financial aid, highly-engaged mentoring, dual faculty mentorship, professional development workshops, and summer research experiences. Scholars in this program, the Cal-Bridge program, consistently report that faculty mentorship is the most impactful feature. While mentorship was rated highly, preliminary evaluation indicated an early deficit in a sense of community among scholars. In response, faculty professional development and support for peer networking were implemented to expand and enhance the relationships that support scholar success. Here we present a promising multifaceted model of mentorship that can support the academic success of HU undergraduates.

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M. K. Rodriguez Wimberly, Alexander L. Rudolph, Carol Hood, Rachel E. Scherr, Christine Pfund. 2022-09-07. A model of mentorship for students from historically underrepresented groups in STEM. https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.03395

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