Examining the Intersection of Graduate Student Funding, Mentoring and Training as a Mechanism of Success for Peer Mentors and their Mentees

摘要

Over the last two decades, mentoring at all levels of education, from students in elementary school to professional and graduate schools to staff at universities, has been proven to be an effective tool for improving retention at schools, increasing self esteem and self efficacy, and developing improved professional skills such as communication and organizational skills for both mentor and mentee. Utilizing mentoring to its fullest potential is of dire importance in graduate schools given the high attrition rates in the United States (US). Whereas attrition rates at graduate schools vary from department to department and program to program, it is estimated that the average attrition rate of graduate schools in the US is about 50 percent. In times of crisis concerning the diminishing number of individuals from diverse populations entering graduate degree programs, especially in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), the high attrition rates may be more costly to the security of the US and its position as a world leader in STEM than are the costs of developing and maintaining programs that increase retention and reduce attrition rates. In addition to these benefits, it has been demonstrated that for university staff, mentoring "increased employee productivity and encouraged people to engage in more activities that enhanced the institution's reputation." It is easy to imagine the return on investment for increased mentoring programs at the graduate level, and thus our focus here will be on mentoring in graduate school. Several factors have been correlated to student success in graduate school such as having a sense of connectedness to peers, faculty, and the department. Other factors include having a knowledgeable advisor, good communication with professors, and professors that assist with developing the student's belief in their own success. The quality of the academic program and its social-personal aspects such as faculty turnover and program requirements may also contribute to student success. Mentoring addresses several of these factors. Financial aid has also been attributed to graduate student success, and therefore, we will streamline our discussion to focus on mentoring students through the process of obtaining funding for STEM graduate education.