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Abstract
This intrinsic case study (Stake, 1995) explores the critical components of successful cross-race mentoring relationships from the mentees and mentors involved in the Increasing Minority Presence within Academia through Continuous Training (IMPACT) mentoring program. Stakeholders across academia need to better understand what facilitates successful cross-race mentoring, due to the underrepresentation of senior and emeriti faculty of color in engineering. Interviews with 16 Black engineering faculty mentees and 14 primarily White emeriti mentors were analyzed inductively and resulted in three interconnected themes: (a) self-awareness and empathy create trusting, honest conversations; (b) mentee career advancement must be core to the relationship; and (c) a history of racial allyship from the mentor is required. These findings reveal the importance of the IMPACT mentoring program creating successful mentoring matches in which both sides demonstrate self-awareness and empathy, focus on mentee career advancement, and mentors possessing a track record of dismantling racist practices in the academy.
Keywords
faculty mentorship, Black faculty, emeriti faculty, engineering academia, intrinsic case study
Acknowledgements
This study is sponsored by a National Science Foundation Broadening Participation in Engineering award. The IMPACT mentoring program was sponsored by an NSF Broadening Participation in Engineering award in 2015 and an NSF INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science) Design and Developments Launch Pilot award in 2017.
Publication Date
1-26-2025
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
DOI
10.46743/2160-3715/2025.7186
Recommended APA Citation
Mendez, S. L., Tygret, J. A., Bruwer, A., & Haynes, C. (2025). Critical components of successful cross-race mentoring relationships: Perspectives of mentees and mentors. The Qualitative Report, 30(1), 3010-3023. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2025.7186
ORCID ID
Jennifer Tygret https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5354-507X; Sylvia Mendez https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7723-4401
Included in
Engineering Education Commons, Higher Education Commons, Higher Education Administration Commons, Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons, Social Statistics Commons