Sink or swim: The mentoring experiences of Latinx PhD students with faculty of color.

Abstract

This phenomenological study examines the positive and adverse experiences full-time Latinx PhD students have in mentoring relationships with faculty of Color at a historically white Research-Intensive University in the Southwest, United States. These scholars are an essential group that faces distinct challenges in graduate education and remain underrepresented, with only 7.2% of all doctorate degrees obtained and constituting merely 4% of all faculty. Faculty mentoring requires a degree of care and commitment rather than a casual or "strictly business" approach, especially for racially minoritized students. Findings reveal the need for faculty mentors to humanize and validate their advisees' individual experiences and goals while simultaneously incorporating the holistic person their doctoral students enter with at their respective academic programs. Recommendations are shared for institutional agents at all levels.

Finding an academic home, but still searching for our place: A call for mentoring from the voices of Latina junior faculty

“…Research on the effectiveness of mentoring reveals that in addition to providing opportunities, a holistic approach must consider the individual’s values, multiple identities, and cultural experience (Turner et al, 2008; Santa-Ramirez, 2021):Even though I was part of structured programs, that provided limitless opportunities, it didn’t mean that I didn’t experience obstacles. I had an advisor that thought some of my extracurricular activities were taking from my time in the lab and were negatively impacting my performance.…”

“…Research on the effectiveness of mentoring reveals that in addition to providing opportunities, a holistic approach must consider the individual's values, multiple identities, and cultural experience (Turner et al, 2008;Santa-Ramirez, 2021):…”

Social and Emotional Intervention Research as Justice: A Case for Accountability

“…However, there are effective strategies that can be implemented to recruit doctoral students from these communities and increase their placement in IHEs. Systematic strategies may include addressing barriers to recruitment (e.g., such as standardized tests that measure aptitude and intelligence but reinforce negative stereotypes, expose inequities, and exclude capable ethnic minorities from doctoral study; Gómez et al, 2021; Randall, 2021; Woo et al, 2022), providing student-centered mentoring and advising (Santa-Ramirez, 2022), social support (Slay et al, 2019; Trent et al, 2021), funding (Hill & Conceição, 2020; Jones & Mandell, 2020; Merrell-James et al, 2020; Shealey, 2009), and transitional supports into the academy (Dieker et al, 2014). Using a tiered model to evaluate and identify supports for incoming students is another strategy that could increase access to the aptly termed “hidden curriculum” in doctoral studies (Felder & Barker, 2013).…”

Confronting the nameless-faceless: a duoethnography of navigating turnover and early career socialization

“…Transcending these conditions is often contingent on developing connections with supportive peers and faculty mentors (Ramirez, 2017). Most noticeably, as a first-generation Latina PhD student, Norma relied on Demetri to provide holistic support by developing trust that employed a culturally engaging and validating environment (Santa-Ramirez, 2021). Witnessing a mentor's authentic struggle in navigating academic standards helped Norma, as well as other Latinx PhD students (Santa-Ramirez, 2021), trust their mentor's feedback and advice in preparing for their own academic career, as well producing a sense of belonging via a Confronting the namelessfaceless "humanized environment" that acknowledged our learning curves (Santa-Ramirez, 2021).…”