federica bianco
astro | data science | data for good
Nurturing the future generations of Rubin scientists with effective, culturally responsive mentoring
A TVS + LSST Discovery Alliance program
A significant issue:
mentoring is a skill that, like all skills, must be learned, and most academic institutions do not have structures in place to train mentors in effective mentorship practices
Byars-Winston and Dahlberg (2019),
The Science of Effective Mentoring
“Because mentorship can be so influential in shaping the future STEMM workforce, its occurrence should not be left to chance or idiosyncratic implementation. There is a gap between what we know about effective mentoring and how it is practiced in higher education”.
Impact of mentoring
In this article, we discuss how the current state of academia often fails URM STEM students and faculty
We know it matters!
While the question in the literature some 15 years ago seemed to be “Does Mentoring Matter?” (e.g. Eby et al. 2008), literature prior to the 2010s establish a wealth of evidence to firmly answer this question: mentoring does matter!
Results demonstrate that mentoring is associated with a wide range of favorable behavioral, attitudinal, health-related, relational, motivational, and career outcomes [...]
Generally, larger effect sizes were detected for academic and workplace mentoring
Impact of mentoring
Impact of mentoring
What makes it effective?
So the pressing question in becomes, “What Makes Mentoring Effective”. Beutel and Spooner-Lane (2009)
the success of mentoring relationships lies in the skills and knowledge of the mentors;
yet this also requires developing professional–personal relationships
including with a focus on the identity of the mentee and their belonging to historically marginalized groups in STEM.
What makes it effective?
[...] students from historically excluded groups whose research mentors addressed [and] validated their racial and academic identities reported greater involvement in research, higher science identity and belonging in research, and higher STEM degree graduation rates than those whose mentors did not do so (Heager et al. 2016).
However, some research mentors may not see the relevance in acknowledging such variables in their mentoring relationships (Butz, et al. 2019; Prunuske et al. 2013 ) [...] concerns of being misunderstood as being prejudiced or otherwise offending their mentee (Byars-Winston et al. 2020).
On the basis of this evidence, Byars-Winston and Dahlberg, 2019 concluded that recognizing and responding to cultural diversity can contribute to mentors’ effectiveness and that there is an urgent need to build this capacity in research mentors (Barber et al. 2020)
So the pressing question in becomes, “What Makes Mentoring Effective”. Beutel and Spooner-Lane (2009)
What's the plan?
Phase 1: Send 3-4 TVS members to be trained at the CIMER center
During this workshop, participants are introduced to the following key areas
- aligning expectations
- addressing equity and inclusion
- assessing understanding,
- fostering independence,
- maintaining effective communication, and
- promoting professional development.
Workshop participants become familiar with the curricula, practice facilitating activities, explore extensive implementation resources, and develop a plan for implementing the training at their institution or organization.
What's the plan?
Shar Daniels will act as program coordinator. They will coordinate with the new facilitator the organization of two workshops/year
Phase 2: Organize TVS/Rubin mentroing training
- Remote participation to maximize access
- 2 facilitators per workshop
- Limit to ~10/15 participants per workshop
What's the plan?
Shar Daniels will act as program coordinator.
They will track the metrics of success
Phase 3: Metrics of success
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Ability to recruit mentors facilitatators within the Rubin community.
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Demand and participation in training sessions led by the trained facilitators. Candidate TVS Catalyst mentors will be requested to participate in this training or to provide evidence of alternative training to increase the effectiveness of the Catalyst fellowship’s mentoring program.
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Following the career paths of mentees of the trained mentors
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Interviews with mentees and a control sample could be conducted but this may require consultation with a lawyer to obtain (the equivalent of) an IRB.
Share (the) one thing you wish they told you before you became a mentor
What is the one "mentoring decision/responsibility" that keeps you awake at night about
Who can you talk about it to?
What is the one "mentoring decision/responsibility" that keeps you awake at night about
How do you decide if you are the right mentor for a person (for your mentee)?
Nurturing the future generations of Rubin scientists with effective, culturally responsive mentoring
By federica bianco
