Conceptualizing a mentoring program for American Indian/Alaska Native students in the STEM fields: a review of the literature

Defining mentoring: a literature review of issues, types, and applications

“…To be closely inspected and analyzed, the scholarly studies had to satisfy all four inclusion criteria: (1) published between 1983 and 2019 to qualify as classic or contemporary in mentoring research (except for Kram's 1983 and 1985/1988 studies, 2,10 the rest were published between 1995 and 2019); (2) empirically based or framed conceptually or theoretically; (3) appear in the premier journal in mentoring ( Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning ) and other academic journals with an emphasis on developmental relationships, such as learning theory (e.g., Educational Psychology Review ) and management theory (e.g., Academy of Management Journal ); and (4) published by recognized researchers in mentoring (e.g., Kathy Kram), learning (e.g., Dale Schunk), and management (e.g., Polly Parker). Also included in the analysis were literature reviews of mentoring research that synthesize findings and incorporate definitions of mentorship 4,22,34,48,60,69,71 . Additionally, compendium handbooks and reference texts with multidisciplinary perspectives on mentoring in education were reviewed (e.g., The Blackwell Handbook of Mentoring ; The Sage Handbook of Mentoring and Coaching in Education ; The Sage Handbook of Mentoring ).…”

“…Thus, classical mentoring is seen as unresponsive to dynamics of privilege and oppression in excluding historically underserved populations from purposeful mentoring 4–6 . The omission of culturally ethnic groups from intentional mentoring opportunities in predominantly White institutions is a widely recognized problem 4,5,12,15,18,20–22 …”

“…Beyond this, there is a momentum in the literature to recreate the mentoring model, allowing for movement, diversification, and collaboration while discontinuing worn‐out ways of thinking and behaving 11,12,22,25,31,38,46 . Targets of dissatisfaction are dysfunctionality in power hierarchies, rigid lines of role and function, and constraints on diversity and difference 71 .…”

“…Propelling equity, STEM mentoring programs are being reconceptualized to include females and ethnic groups that are underrepresented in academics, jobs, and careers, 21 including Indigenous students 22 . STEM mentoring combines the “developmental experience” and “support” of mentoring toward a goal aligned with the challenges of STEM.…”

Exploring the Career Thinking of Native American Engineering Students (Research)

“…One study of college students in STEM fields similarly found that Native American students were likely to endorse communal goals tied to their tribal identities that may encourage feelings of belonging uncertainty in STEM [38]. A recent literature review of Native American graduate students in STEM fields found that although they are engaged in a number of career interventions, traditional academic mentoring should incorporate indigenous values and kinship structures [39]. Notably, much more research is needed to integrate and understand the influence of cultural experience to socio-cognitive constructs of career thinking [41][42][43].…”