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Difficult Dialogues: Research mentoring across culturesNADYA A. FOUAD
SEPTEMBER 30, 2014
Barriers to functional mentoring across cultures
Mentoring evaluated on products not process
Tension when minority students challenge “accepted” thinking
Need to protect the public, yet provide support and advocacy
Concerns about confidentiality
Selection process—biases exist
Understanding student’s culture
Understanding interaction between student’s culture and CSU
Questions to Ask Before Beginning
Do you have time to mentor?
What is your motivation to be a mentor?
What is the mentee’s goals? What is he/she looking for in mentoring?
How do you get started?
How do you align your goals/expectations with the mentee’s?
Mentoring Challenges
Providing inadequate direction
Conflicting demands
Conflicting advice
Mentee’s lack of commitment
Mentor perceived as lacking commitment
Mismatch between mentor and mentee
Signs of misalignment
Mentee and/or mentor dreads attending mentor meetings.
Mentor does not find the time to meet as agreed upon.
Mentor does not respond to written documents (grants, emails) in a timely manner.
Mentee does not follow through on deadlines.
Mentee does not feel a sense of belonging within the professional culture.
Signs of misalignment
Mentee's work is successful, but movement toward independence is not being fostered by mentor (e.g. mentor does not give up authorship position, publically advocate for mentee, etc)
A sense of shared curiosity and teamwork is not present.
Mentor does most of the talking and direction-setting during mentoring meetings.
Mentor or mentee finds themselves avoiding the other.
Mentor and/or mentee avoids eye contact during mentor meetings. (Can be culturally relative.)
Mentoring across differences•Be aware of your own assumptions
•Address differences openly
•Respect opinions
•Be open to different ways of looking at a problem/solution
•Be as non-defensive as possible
•Be proactive about solutions
Case example
You come across two racial/ethnic minority students speaking in the hallway—mentored by different faculty members in your department. You overhear, “…I don’t know what to do! He’s not giving me enough help. I don’t want to face the retribution if I complain. This place is not safe for anyone!” The other student agrees with the retribution of complaining to a faculty member. The student continues, “Advisors do not understand the students’ of color experiences on this campus…they can be very hostile towards us.”
What do you say or do?