Comparing Alternative Voices in the Academy: Navigating the Complexity of Mentoring Relationships from Divergent Ethnic Backgrounds

Faculty of Color's Mentorship Experiences in Counselor Education

“…Participants also highlighted salient types of mentorship, which included multiple mentors, cross-cultural mentorship, and mentorship outside of the program or discipline. Several researchers (Diggs et al, 2009;Hill et al, 2005;Koch & Telzrow, 2002;Mackey & Shannon, 2014;Sorcinelli & Yun, 2007;Yun et al, 2016) have suggested the importance of multiple mentors who serve in formal and informal relationships, and are from inside and outside of the institutional setting. Regardless of tenure status, all participants in this study described the benefits of multiple mentors who provided personal support, helped them navigate academia, and met various aspects of their professional development needs.…”

“…For faculty of color, mentorship has been recognized as an invaluable and crucial tool for retention (Brooks & Steen, 2010;Holcomb-McCoy & Bradley, 2003;Shin, 2008;Turner et al, 2008;Zambrana et al, 2015), promotion (Ehrich et al, 2004;Espino & Zambrana, 2019;Mackey & Shannon, 2014), leadership development (Brown, 2010;Tran, 2014), and professional success (Crawford & Smith, 2005;Diggs et al, 2009;Lloyd-Jones, 2014;Turner et al, 2008;Yun et al, 2016). Moreover, researchers have recommended mentoring programs and trainings across universities (Baggerly et al, 2017;Brown, 2010;Espino & Zambrana, 2019;Mackey & Shannon, 2014;Zambrana et al, 2015); systemic changes at the institutional, college, and departmental levels that provide financial incentives, workload compensation, or formal recognition for time spent mentoring (Lloyd-Jones, 2014); and explicit support from leadership for the recruitment and retention of faculty of color (Brooks & Steen, 2010;Espino & Zambrana, 2019;Lloyd-Jones, 2014;Turner et al, 2008).…”

“…The senior faculty member is responsible for orienting the new or junior faculty member to the department and academe, and tasks are designed to foster personal and professional development (Borders et al, 2011;Lloyd-Jones, 2014). Formalized mentoring programs can also aid junior faculty members in navigating the unspoken rules, cultural dynamics, and political world of academe (Mackey & Shannon, 2014). Conversely, informal mentoring relationships develop more organically between faculty members and colleagues and may be based on shared interests (Baker et al, 2014); these relationships can provide social and personal support beyond the formalized mentoring relationships (Diggs et al, 2009).…”

“…Researchers have acknowledged the potential benefits of multiple mentors (Diggs et al, 2009;Lloyd-Jones, 2014;Mackey & Shannon, 2014;Sorcinelli & Yun, 2007;Yun et al, 2016) and the need for effective cross-cultural mentorship (Brinson & Kottler, 1993), given that the disparity of representation of faculty of color (see McFarland et al, 2018) increases the likelihood of cross-racial/ ethnic mentors (Espino & Zambrana, 2019). A robust network of mentors can help to ensure faculty members can connect with "multiple mentoring partners in nonhierarchical, collaborative, cross-cultural partnerships to address specific areas of faculty activity, such as research, teaching, working toward tenure, and striking a balance between work and life" (Sorcinelli & Yun, 2007, p. 58).…”

“…To address and eradicate barriers to the retention and promotion of faculty of color, researchers have advocated for policies that overtly address the institutional oppression and marginalization of faculty of color at all levels (e.g., university, college, department; Pérez & Carney, 2018). More specifically, intentional mentorship programs (Holcomb-McCoy & Addison-Bradley, 2005;Johnson et al, 2007;Mackey & Shannon, 2014;Zambrana et al, 2017) and accountability measures for inadequate formal mentoring (Espino & Zambrana, 2019) have been suggested as effective strategies to change campus culture, mitigate attrition, and retain faculty of color.…”