Abstract
This article details the impact of the intensive mentoring model, through faculty-to-student and peer-to-peer mentoring, utilized in WAESO-LSAMP community colleges. We pay particular attention to the practice of socio-emotional mentoring, the development of a “mentoring chain,” and the impact of communities of support on student and faculty participants. Specifically, we discuss how these separate modes of mentoring impact students from underrepresented students in developing and activating social capital, developing collaborative support systems, fostering confidence and self-efficacy, combatting impostor syndrome and stereotype threat, and embracing the importance of failure in the scientific process. Methods and data include qualitative analysis of forty-six in-depth interviews with program participants, including faculty mentors and community college students, at three community college sites within the WAESO-LSAMP alliance. We address specific implications for faculty working with underrepresented STEM community college students and provide evidence of best practices for setting up a community of support that leads to academic and personal success.
Highlights
We address specific implications for faculty working with underrepresented STEM community college students and provide evidence of best practices for setting up a community of support that leads to academic and personal success
This section addresses in depth the most frequently mentioned themes discussed by students and faculty as a result of their participation in Western Alliance to Expand Student Opportunity (WAESO)-Louis Stokes Access to Minority Participation (LSAMP) activities
Themes discussed include the impact of collaborative mentoring, the mentoring chain that develops through peer-to-peer contact, the impact of the program on student academic growth, and the development of self-efficacy through learning to fail and challenging impostor phenomenon
Summary
Critical and intentional mentoring impacts students, underrepresented STEM students, including black, indigenous, people of color and low-income, first generation college students, in important ways, including their identity development (Eagan et al, 2017; Estepp et al, 2017; Malone and Barabino, 2009), self-efficacy (confidence in performing essential parts of their studies) (Chemers et al, 2011; Crisp et al, 2017; Estepp et al, 2017), commitment to STEM education, and long-term success (Crisp et al, 2017; Dika and Martin, 2018; Hurtado et al, 2009). Intensive LSAMP mentoring can lead to increased self-efficacy and confidence in working with esteemed faculty, both of which are important as underrepresented students often feel uncomfortable reaching out to faculty for support (Schwartza et al, 2016) in college due to fears of being seen as incompetent or like they do not belong (Baker, 2013)
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