Abstract

Mentoring plays an important role in preparing women and underrepresented minority (URM) students for academic and career achievement. Mentoring has been linked to higher academic success, increased retention, and matriculation to graduation for URM students. However, there are limited professional development opportunities for faculty members to learn how to be effective and competent mentors, and few studies have assessed the effectiveness of mentoring development programs. The Mentoring@Purdue Program (M@P) was established in 2013 to improve the quality of graduate school experiences for women and URMs in Ag+STEM disciplines by offering best practices and advice to utilize in mentoring relationships between graduate students and faculty or staff members. Participants of the 21 mentoring workshops and seminars were asked to evaluate the effectiveness of the sessions for importance, identifiable examples, interest in professional development programs, interest in mentoring activities on campus, and commitment to future attendance. Participants (N=316) included faculty, staff, postdoctoral and graduate students from Ag+STEM colleges and departments across the university. Findings revealed that 15 of the 21 M@P workshops and seminars had a strong effectiveness rating (4 on a 5-point scale). Both racial and gender groups were similar in rating the M@P as highly effective. It is recommended that: 1) universities develop similar mentoring training programs to assist faculty working with women and URM students in Ag+STEM, and 2) develop studies that track the retention and application of mentoring skills established within mentor training programs.