Mentoring and Belonging in Research: Developing Centers that Champion Undergraduate Students as Social Justice Researchers

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

This session presents an autoethnographic study examining the professional journey of Center
Directors at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). It explores how lived experiences,
leadership decisions, and institutional contexts shape the development of centers focused on
mentoring and developing undergraduate researchers, grant procurement, and creating identities of
belonging to the research community. Using personal journals, institutional documents,
observations, and unstructured conversations, the study interrogates how identity and leadership
intersect with personal and professional commitments to the mission of undergraduate research
development, belonging, and social justice. Deontological considerations emerge as Center Directors
navigate the tension between their ethical responsibilities to students’ research topic and voice for
social justice amid bureaucratic expectations and laws that counter social justice ideals. Additionally,
creating centers that support social justice research impacted the power distance dynamics and
interactions with senior administrators, faculty, and state regulators. Ultimately, the session
illuminates the moral, structural, and cultural complexities that define leading a social justice leaning
center within HBCU institutional ecosystems.

Sub Unit

• Social Justice Action Committee

Chair

• Gretchen Robinson, North Carolina A&T State University

Presenters

• Stephen D. Hancock, North Carolina A&T State University

• Nina L. Gilbert, Morehouse College

• Fred A. Bonner, Prairie View A&M University