Latinx STEM Mentors’ Extended Perceptions, Knowledge, and Practices

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Inclusive Practices for Mentoring (Table 3)

Abstract

This study addresses a specific STEM mentoring program at a Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) in the southwest. The mentoring program involved faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students as mentors and undergraduate students as mentees. The program offered mentoring training sessions to develop mentoring skills and be a space for sharing and reflection. Findings revealed increased mentors’ awareness in shifting their interactions to be trustful, fair, and clear. Also, mentors showed genuine interest in becoming role models by creating a climate of trust and care, recognized the need to be part of a community that cultivates pride in being a minority, and developed higher confidence shifting their mindset from a passive working dynamic to a more collaborative one.

Authors

• Hilda Cecilia Contreras Aguirre, New Mexico State University

• Luis Rodolfo Garcia Carrillo, New Mexico State University