Michigan Technological University Wahtera Center for Student Success houses two programs that utilize short-term mentoring experiences for their students. The first is within their new student orientation. The second is a part of their ExSEL (Excelling the Student Experience in Learning) program, a student success and leadership development program. This paper will explore how each program identifies and selects their student mentors, and provides their training. How students are placed with their mentee or mentoring group will also be discussed.  Program assessment data will be reviewed to discuss the impact of the experience.  Michigan Tech’s new student orientation is a weeklong experience. Students are divided into teams by discipline and an Orientation Team Leader (OTL) leads each team, typically from the same major. The OTL serves as the group’s guide for the week, leading team meetings about various topics related to college adjustment and success, and generally serving as a role model, mentor and welcome ambassador for the week. Students often turn to their OTLs informally after orientation for mentoring and advice. The ExSEL program pairs each new participant with a peer mentor for a minimum of five weeks. Participating in the mentoring relationship is a graded portion of the required success skills course attached to the program. Students are paired with their mentors based on similar majors and are introduced at a large common activity in fall semester. This is followed-up with a weekly meeting for four weeks.

The literature on self-determination in the United States demonstrates that students with disabilities who are in transition from high school to adulthood benefit from instruction and supports till the development of their self-determination skills (Wehmeyer & Schwartz, 1998; Field, Martin, Miller, Ward, & Wehmeyer, 1998b). However, there is minimal reference in the literature to what role self-determination plays in the lives of Hispanic students with disabilities who are transitioning from school to adulthood and work. A qualitative method with a case study design was used to conduct this investigation. The data was collected through document analysis, in-depth interviews, and direct observations. The ecological theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) was used as the framework for this study because this theory looks at a person’s development within the context of the various relationships that form a person’s environment: family, home, school, parents’ work, and the larger cultural context. The results include findings on how students with disabilities from a Hispanic background in transition develop and acquire their self-determination skills knowledge, and competencies within a society in terms of the guidance, support, and structure they receive from their environment. Though students from a Hispanic background still need many of the same transition-related supports and services, they differ from other students in many significant ways. While self-determination continues to be an important determinant for successful transition services, there are critically different ways that self-determination is operationalized, as well as different supports they require in order to facilitate their self-determined transition planning. 

The literature shows that workplace incivility among registered nurses in the United States has approached epidemic proportions. The existence of perpetuated bullying, horizontal/lateral violence, malicious communication, and relational aggression has lead to an inability to recruit and retain nurses at a time when economic, educational, and employment uncertainties enshroud health care reform. In order to change the premise that workplace incivility is an acceptable rite of passage for new graduate nurses, nursing faculty proposed and implemented a novel approach to cultivating developmental relationships among nursing students of minority background.  In a yearlong, guided train-the-trainer approach, nursing student leaders who were designated emerging scholars, initiated personal and professional peer-mentoring advancement of other nursing students. Through research engagement and consistent mentoring, student leaders of differing levels of educational and professional experience embraced approaches to promoting cessation of workplace incivility. A look at how nursing faculty considered gaps in the literature, methodology, intervention, promotion, and evaluation of this endeavor as best practice for cultivating successful developmental faculty-student relationships will be presented.

For the past 20 years, the professor and graduate students in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Race and Ethnic Psychology Lab have mentored minority scholars toward an understanding of research and preparation for both academic and professional careers. In light of the success in promotion of minority scholars, we examined features that produced successful student experiences and outcomes noting mishaps and failings as well. First and foremost, the lab is dedicated to partnering with students to engage in the science of human behavior and conduct research that promotes minority population health. Scholarly activities include all research steps, from development to publication. An anonymous survey of current undergraduates in the lab indicated students: 1) were committed to conducting research that pertained to race/ethnic issues, 2) were certain that lab involvement on race/ethnic research projects makes a difference in their commitment to education and training, and 3) were pleased that research could be “fun”. We are convinced that Inoculation Theory (Dasgupta, 2011) is a meaningful approach for understanding successful inclusion of minority scholars into psychological health and well-being research and teaching. Students gravitate toward achievement domains that are a comfortable fit, because they develop a relationship with mentors and envision themselves making valuable contributions. The stereotype inoculation model assumes that minority experts and peers in high achievement settings function as “social vaccines” who increase social belonging and inoculate group members’ self-concept against negative stereotypes. Minority educators and leaders, then, build a road for future scholars to travel.

Context: Modeling work-life balance(WLB) and sharing common WLB philosophies has been identified as important in the athletic training(AT) profession. The departure of females from the profession has been empirically linked to the desire to strike a balance between personal obligations, family needs, and work responsibilities. Objective: A brief summation of current research on role model and mentor impact on ATs and practical recommendations on how to increase role model exposure to female ATs in particular. Background: The importance of role models in professional character formation is regularly identified. However, a lack of mentoring may attribute to career success deficiencies, especially for women. Description: Role models and mentors differ in that mentors are senior members of a group who deliberately encourage younger colleagues in their careers. Often mentoring includes role modeling. Role models teach predominantly by example and help form professional identity and commitment by way of promoting observation and comparison. Clinical Advantage(s): Employee retention strategies are essential in motivating employees to remain with organizations and contribute effectively. Enhancing role model/mentee relationships may be an effective and prudent way to increase retention within the AT profession. Conclusion(s): Mentors and role models are valuable instruments for perseverance in the AT profession. It is imperative for supervisors to realize their potential impact on employees as they lead by modeling behavior. As more ATs maintaining WLB are available to serve as role models, it is conceivable that attitudes of other ATs may start to change and that AT students may perceive WLB as attainable.

“Mentor” is grounded in Greek mythology and defined as, “a wise or trusted counselor or teacher.”  Indeed, in the Odyssey, Mentor was an important figure entrusted with the education of Odysseus’ son, Telemachus.  It is also a term meaning someone who imparts wisdom to, and shares knowledge with, a less experienced colleague.  Further definitions identify mentoring as encouraging people to manage their own learning in order for them to maximize their potential.  And finally, the first recorded usage of “mentorship” can be found in a 1699 book entitled “Les Aventures de Telemaque, by the French writer Francois Fenelon.  Mentoring was a specific design feature of “The Leadership Institute,” a 2 year graduate program in Marin County, California, for teachers of diverse cultural and organizational backgrounds aspiring to become educational leaders such as Vice-Principals, Principals and Superintendents.  They were “mentored” by the Program Director and supported by adjunct faculty.  The Institute was a cohort grouping; the entire “class” entered and commenced throughout the entire sequence of courses, ensemble.  They also mentored themselves. They provided special support to each other, developing trust over time, coordinating academic activities and assignments and responding to various concerns while in the very process of formulating individual leadership capabilities.  This depth of bonding created an enduring relationship component that couldn’t be realized by anyone who assumed a supervisory role in the Program (family systems paradigms, and socialization theory provided conceptual frameworks). This presentation will provide insights, field based research and developmentally appropriate relationship-building techniques for participants.

The Supplemental Instruction (SI) model was originally created at the University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC) in 1973.  It was introduced as part of a solution to high attrition rates in the minority student population after open admission policies took hold in the 1960s and 70s. Open admissions played a large role in the influx of traditionally underrepresented groups into higher education.  While many of those students showed great promise, they often arrived disadvantaged by their academic background.  The SI model focuses on peer mentoring, and student lead initiatives that focus specifically on increasing retention within historically difficult courses, improving student grades, and increasing the graduation rates of students in the health sciences. SI retains students by creating an informal non-traditional environment for students to collaborate.  SI has been implemented at over 400 universities and campuses, and the SI Program at the University of New Mexico’s (UNM) learning assistance center, the Center for Academic Program Support (CAPS), provides a holistic medium that actively engages a broad band of diverse student learners. Since 2005, SI has drawn in UNM students for weekly SI sessions, which include informal review sessions in which students implement collaborative learning techniques (i.e., compare notes, discuss readings, develop learning strategies, review course content).  Student users who attend SI consistently get higher grades in the class than those who do not attend cite (Moore, 2012). This paper will provide readers with an understanding of mentorship within the SI model and its role in creating diverse learning environments.

Key words:  supplemental instruction, mentorship, and diverse learning environments

Although the geological science discipline at El Paso Community College (EPCC) offered popular introductory geology courses for decades, most EPCC students interested in completing an undergraduate degree in the geological sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) faced many obstacles to success.  The transfer process was haphazard, students were often poorly advised and the curriculum between institutions was poorly articulated.   Less than one transfer student a year was able to complete his/her B.S. degree at UTEP.   In 2008 EPCC faculty began a pilot program to involve their students in paid research projects that were directed and mentored by UTEP faculty.  A concentrated effort was also made to standardize introductory curriculum across the institutions and share successful teaching/mentoring strategies between faculty.  This informal mentoring program grew into a 2 year formalized research program supported by NSF that involved EPCC students participating in research projects with UTEP faculty and undergraduate (preferably transfer students) mentors.   Since the initial pilot program began in the summer of 2008 over 20 students have entered the A.S. in Geological Science program at EPCC with about 10 students continuing to UTEP’s B.S. program and 2 currently in graduate programs.   Growth of student interest at EPCC has led to expansion of their offerings in the geology courses, enabling even greater ease in transferring to UTEP.  Our challenge at present is to continue to find sources to support the undergraduate research component of the program and to further strengthen the program’s mentoring component.

Check & Connect (C&C) (Christenson, Stout, & Pohl, 2012) is a student engagement intervention developed to promote school success and completion for secondary school students at risk of school dropout. The program employs mentors to develop supportive relationships with at-risk students. C&C’s efficacy has been demonstrated by its developers in the Minneapolis area (What Works Clearinghouse, 2006). The present study is one of the first rigorous efficacy studies of C&C with an independent evaluator outside of Minnesota. Across five high schools, parental consent and student assent were obtained for 389 incoming freshmen who were identified as being at-risk for disengaging from school. Students were randomly assigned to participate in the C&C program and work with a mentor, or to a services-as-usual comparison group.  Students participate in yearly surveys designed to measure constructs relevant to school engagement and social emotional functioning. Teachers also complete surveys about their perception of the students’ social skills, behavior, and academic performance. First year mentor activities will be examined, in addition to baseline results regarding student social skills and problem behaviors.

The efficacy of a school-based mentoring program was evaluated for 16 at-risk middle school students. After receiving individual mentoring throughout the school year, changes were observed in students’ levels of resilience, academic engagement, attendance, discipline, and relations with others. Mentored students showed signs of resilience as demonstrated by reports of hope and optimism. Mentored students also reported greater classroom participation and feelings of identification with school. Mentored students had lower suspension rates as well as better attendance. Students who were mentored were more likely to report improved relations with teachers and family compared to non-mentored students. Interviews with students revealed that mentoring is an extremely positive interaction for students resulting in positive goal setting and a sense of bonding with others.