Mentoring Hispanic Students: A Literature Review

Abstract

The notion of mentoring can be understood as a one-to-one relationship between a mentor and a protégé. A more contemporary perspective of the term argued it as a collaborative environment where the mentor and the mentee can learn from each other. This document presents faculty attitudes and reactions on the role of mentoring. In the reviewed articles, scholars coincided on the idea that mentoring is an effective academic tool which impacts students' adjustment, retention, and achievement, and argued the development of peer mentoring programs as a resource for support during students' academic path in postsecondary education. We include cases of effective peer mentoring programs in higher education institutions, and highlight the fact of pairing students with similar interests is beneficial for both participants due to the establishment of an exchange of learning and knowledge. The authors also annotated the fact that some traditional mentoring models in education have typically excluded Hispanics and individuals of other underrepresented minorities (URM), as there is lack of availability of faculty with similar backgrounds. This article includes perspectives that Hispanic higher education students shared in regard to their expectations of a mentor. This review also shows successful cases of peer mentoring programs with Hispanic students, which considered the cultural capital of this specific minority, and its connection with mentees' expectations on outcomes from mentorship. Resumen Se argumenta la noción contemporanea de un entorno collaborativo donde el mentor y el mentado pueden aprender el uno del otro. Se incluyen perspectivas que comparten estudiantes hispanos en educación superior con respecto a sus experiencias de mentores. Casos exitosos de programas de mentoría de compañeros entre estudiantes hispanos, capital cultural de esta minoria y su conexión con expectativas de mentados y resultados de mentoría se comparten.

Peer Coaching Program Development: A Framework of First-Year Latina/o Student Persistence Pursuing STEM Pathways at a Hispanic Serving Institution

“…Latina/o students need assistance managing and prioritizing their time, opportunities to build "peer networks," and academic monitoring (Hurtado & Kamimura, 2003). The environment of higher learning institutions significantly determines student success (Contreras & Contreras, 2015) and peer mentoring approaches have materialized to be influential (Alcocer & Martinez, 2018) in helping students overcome first-year barriers. Mentoring programs are a widely used retention strategy that help address first-year student transition and acclimatization (e.g., Bettinger & Baker, 2011;Bordes & Arredondo, 2005;Crisp & Cruz, 2010;Cruz, Rajpal, Lecocke, Martines, & Lurie, 2018;Hurtado & Ponjuan, 2005;Moschetti, Plunkett, Efrat, & Yomtov, 2017;Salas, Aragon, Alandejani, & Timpson, 2014;Yomtov, Plunkett, Efrat, & Garcia Marin, 2017).…”

Community college transfer phenomena: Experiences of academically resilient Mexican and Mexican American students.

“…As a minority group, Latinxs encounter institutional and cultural racism (Hernández, Carranza, & Almeida, 2010), therefore it is very important to have role models and supporters who reflect the population, across political, economic, and social institutions (Schwan, Negroni, & Santiago-Kozmon, 2013). Hispanic students seem to prefer mentors who understand their culture and values (Alcocer & Martinez, 2018) and from participants’ experiences, centering mentoring relationships on increasing students’ sense of safety and connectedness to campus communities is critical. A mentoring approach focused on fostering and increasing students’ self-confidence and affirming their cultural identity as an inherent and valuable part of who they are is important for in students’ sense of support (Laden, 1999).…”

Increasing Access and Quality of Behavior-Analytic Services for the Latinx Population

“…Related to these, mentorship is known to be an important factor in student retention (Alcocer & Martinez, 2018 ; Fong et al, 2017 ; Kuh, 2012 ). A mentor–mentee relationship framework can allow the creation of professional expectations and the establishment of a personal and collaborative relationship.…”

“…A mentor–mentee relationship framework can allow the creation of professional expectations and the establishment of a personal and collaborative relationship. Furthermore, mentoring can be an effective tool that can further impact overall achievement in terms of outcomes and increasing retention in graduate programs (Alcocer & Martinez, 2018 ; Holloway-Friesen, 2019 ; Klinge, 2015 ). In particular, mentorship by established BIPOC faculty can help students navigate academic culture, develop strategies for overcoming barriers related to race, and create road maps for desired career goals (Alegría et al, 2019 ; Cirincione-Ulezi, 2020 ; Fries-Britt et al, 2011 ).…”