Impact of Shared Values & Power on Successful Mentoring for Minorities in STEM

Abstract

The study aimed to identify characteristics of mentoring programs that benefit (or do not benefit) women, Black, Indigenous, and people of color, and first-generation college students and increase their retention and continuation in STEM. The hypothesis was that shared values and power dynamics can drive the success (or failure) of mentoring these students in STEM. Specifically, we studied the impact of patented technology “Epixego” – an online mentoring and employment ecosystem – and the accompanying training program that both explicitly incorporate shared values and account for power dynamics in mentoring.

The research was an intentional collaboration across UC Davis, UC Merced, and UC Berkeley, with the former two having the distinction of being Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) in a near-peer mentoring model. Research indicates that access to social capital via mentoring is critical for historically excluded students’ sense of belonging, self-efficacy, and retention (Holloway-Friesen, 2019). The research used a mixed-method approach consisting of a quantitative assessment of the mentoring intervention using preand post-intervention surveys and qualitative data from focus groups.