2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

American higher education institutions are faced with a lack of underrepresented minority (URM) faculty in engineering, with only 6.3% of all engineering faculty identifying as URM (National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, 2014). An increase in mentoring opportunities for URM faculty has been heralded as a way in which to ensure their retention, tenure, and promotion in academia (Blackwell, 1989; Hyers, Syphan, Cochran, & Brown, 2012; Stanley, 2006). This submission reports on a new mentoring and advocacy-networking paradigm sponsored by NSF (14-7680) under the call and corresponding office for Broadening Participation in Engineering.

The project, entitled Increasing Minority Presence within Academia through Continuous Training (IMPACT), began in Fall 2015 with the intent of serving as an innovative complement to prevailing approaches that support career mentorship opportunities of URM faculty and the career engagement of emeriti faculty in engineering. The new paradigm encompasses three domains of mentoring: (1) career development (emeriti faculty provide assistance in the retention, tenure, and promotion of URM faculty); (2) sponsorship (emeriti faculty create opportunities for networking, exposure, and visibility with potential research collaborators and grant program officers); and (3) coaching (emeriti faculty share their wisdom about the discipline and provide professional and personal advice in successfully navigating academic careers) (Kram, 1985; Zellers, Howard, & Barcic, 2008).

Synergistic pairings of early- through mid-career URM engineering faculty from a variety of institutions with successful emeriti engineering faculty were created based upon technical expertise. Under this mentoring paradigm, URM faculty benefit from participating in activities designed to further their socialization process into the engineering academic profession and to gain access to the vast insights, greater discretionary time and networks of accomplished emeriti faculty. Opportunities to continue to engage in the discipline by providing professional expertise and to contribute to a more diversified next generation of engineering faculty provides incentives for emeriti faculty to participate in the IMPACT project. This submission shares quantitative pre- and post-survey results on the efficacy of the mentoring paradigm, addressing two research questions:

1. What is the quality of the mentoring relationships?

2. Which career development, sponsorship, and coaching activities have the mentoring matches engaged in?

Survey results demonstrate that mentors and mentees who have regular, planned contact rate the quality of their mentoring relationship stronger than those who do not. Additionally, survey results note that mentors and mentees are engaging in more coaching activities then career development and sponsorship activities but no significant difference exists. The most often cited activities include advice about university service/committee work and discussions on career successes and pitfalls. This submission will describe the aspects of a successful mentoring relationship and those areas of the mentoring and advocacy-networking paradigm that were in greatest use among the mentoring matches. Additionally, implications and recommendations for the theory and practice of mentoring are offered to strengthen mentee career success and mentor disciplinary engagement.

{NSF BPE Collaborataive Awards #1542728, #1542524}