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Inclusive Mentorship

Practices

PhD Candidate | CSEP Mentor Fellow

Bren School Environmental Science & Management

Annette Hilton

Workshop modified from Dr. Timnit Kefela

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Reflection Question 1:

What does mentorship mean to you?

Three minute reflection:

How do you define mentorship?

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Reflection Question 1:

What does mentorship mean to you?

Three minute reflection:

How do you define mentorship?

Share!

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What does mentorship mean to you?

Mentorship is perceived in many ways that may reflect how we want to be/have been mentored.

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Reflection Moment

Think about your journey into research.

Did you have positive/negative experiences as a mentee that shaped your way?

What motivated you to go into STEM?
Who helped you along the way?
What skills did you need to develop to get to where you are today? How did you learn them?

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What does mentorship mean to you?

Mentorship is a professional, working alliance in which individuals work together over time to support the personal and professional growth, development, and success of the relational partners through the provision of career and pyschosocial support (NASEM, 2019)

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Not all mentorship is equitable

(Montgomery 2019)

Gatekeeping

(Moon et al. 2012)

Exclusion

(Cech & Waidzunas 2021)

Harassment

(NASEM 2020)

Structural Barriers

(Hofstra et al. 2020)

Discounted

Minoritized mentees report racially motivated gatekeeping by mentors (e.g. discouraged from pursuing advanced degrees or financial opportunities), tone policing ( criticizing a person for expressing emotion) and encouraged to not talk about politics and their identity because it has no place in STEM (Montgomery 2019).

Only 1% of doctoral degrees received in STEM (in the US) have been awarded to people with disabilities due to gatekeeping, social exclusion and negative attitudes expressed by faculty and peers (Moon et al. 2012).

LGBTQIA+ STEM professionals are likely to experience harassment, professional devaluation and career limitations, as well as have a higher likelihood of leaving STEM in comparison to their non-LGBTQIA+ colleagues (Cech & Waidzunas 2021).

Women are less likely to pursue and/or remain in STEM careers due to structural barriers such as bias (both implicit and explicit), sexual harassment, unequal access to funding and resources, inequitable pay and higher emotional and mental loads through teaching and advising (NASEM 2020)

Demographically minoritized doctoral students in STEM innovate at higher rates than the majority of students and their innovations are discounted (Hofstra et al. 2020).

And what I have shared here today is nowhere near every facet of how affected minoritized students are, these are only some examples. And does not cover many identities

This highlights that we do in fact need a different mentorship paradigm, however to be inclusive we need to engage in culturally responsive mentorship

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How can we be inclusive mentors?

Culturally responsive practices (1)

What:

Culturally responsive mentoring is when you as the mentor, regardless of your identities and experiences, value the cultural background, identities, and experiences of your mentees.

Why:

Helps mentees navigate invalidating experiences that they will likely face
Fosters a sense of belonging and affirm their beliefs that they can be successful
Empirical evidence supports this (Pfund et al., 2022)

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How can we be inclusive mentors?

Culturally responsive practices (1)

How:

Acknowledge and respect differences between you and your mentee

Build trust and understand where they are coming from, their motivations, their experience
Self-reflect on your own experience and where you are coming from
Reflect on the differences between
Do not assume similarity and respect differences

Understand that sharing the same identities or not does not necessarily make you a better/worse mentor

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How can we be inclusive mentors?

Recognize the 'hidden curriculum' and un-hide it (2)

In most of our fields, there are unwritten rules and how-to guides that many may not have access to unless shared by someone they know which have large implications on one’s career.

What is your disciplines 'hidden curriculum'?
How can you help your mentee navigate it?

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How can we be inclusive mentors?

Create an intentional environment of safety & trust (3)

Positive work environment

Mistakes are normal, and ok!
No silly questions, approachable
Practice active listening, find ways to demonstrate your listening
Be deliberate about the language you use
Center accessibility in content you make

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How can we be inclusive mentors?

Culturally responsive practices (1)

Recognize the 'hidden curriculum' and un-hide it (2)

Create an intentional environment of safety & trust (3)

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How can we be inclusive mentors?

Culturally responsive practices (1)

National Academies 'The Science of Effective Mentoring in STEMM' https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/the-science-of-effective-mentoring-in-stemm
A Toolkit for Effective Mentoring (Mayela Aldaz-Cervantes & Timnit Kefela, CSEP website)
Mentor Reflection Questions Worksheet (printed out, CSEP website) https://mentoring.csep.ucsb.edu/mentoring-resources

Recognize the 'hidden curriculum' and un-hide it (2)

Boston University 'Teaching the Hidden Curriculum' (https://www.bu.edu/teaching-writing/resources/teaching-the-hidden-curriculum/)

Create an intentional environment of safety & trust (3)

A Toolkit for Effective Mentoring (Mayela Aldaz-Cervantes & Timnit Kefela, CSEP website)

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Scenario 1

What was your first week (ever) in a research setting like?

How did you feel?

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Scenario 1

What was your first week (ever) in a research setting like?

How did you feel?

If you could have been your mentor, how would you have made that experience better for yourself?

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Scenario 2

You really need to talk to your direct mentor (could be your principle investigator) about your schedule or a next step in your research. However, you can’t seem to physically cross paths and despite sending multiple Lab Slack and email messages, you get no reply.

How do you interpret this and potentially deal with it?

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Scenario 2

You really need to talk to your direct mentor (could be your PI) about your schedule or a next step in you research. However, you can’t seem to physically cross paths and despite sending multiple Lab Slack and email messages, you get no reply.

How does a brand new, inexperienced mentee interpret and deal with it?

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Reflection Question 2

What are some ways you practice being an inclusive mentor?

What would you like to implement into your mentorship practice?

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Resources

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CSEP Mentorship Resources

Website:

mentoring.csep.ucsb.edu

Contact:

csep-mentorship@ucsb.edu

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Feedback Form & Gift Card Raffle!

https://tinyurl.com/CSEPJuly16

Closes at 12 noon tomorrow

(July 17th)!