Abstract
In this chapter, Nina Monet Reynoso, Kiana Foxx, Azeb Tadesse, and Cymone Mack present their findings from research on the inaugural year of the Bunche Research Fellowship (BRF), a university-sponsored research program geared towards partnering Black undergraduate students with Black faculty and graduate student mentors. Utilizing surveys and in-depth online interviews of mentors and faculty members, the authors document the role of mentorship on Black undergraduates. The authors theorize that participation in the program bolsters student skills and confidence in pursuing careers related to research and inquiry. Findings suggest mentoring is associated with community building, career exploration, and improvements in the undergraduate to graduate school pipeline. The chapter provides readers with an overview of this successful mentorship program and suggests best practices for increasing and improving the pipeline for Black Americans entering higher education.
TopIntroduction
Despite increases in Black college enrollment (Nichols, 2020), Black students are still underrepresented in American graduate schools and careers in higher education (Cole & Griffin, 2013). While research suggests mentorship and the opportunity to participate in research programs increase student adjustment and academic success in graduate school (Hall & Allen, 1982), the literature on successful mentoring programs for Black students is limited. As a result, the literature on pathways to Black leadership in the academy is also lacking, because as some researchers note, the route to leadership for those pursuing a career in the academy is often more informal, and more relationally based than most academics willingly admit (Jayakumar et al., 2013; Yosso, 2005). Therefore, to increase Black leadership in the academy, educators must evaluate successful mentoring programs so that higher education institutions have a clear understanding of the actions their faculty, staff, and administration can take to support Black access to academic careers.
This chapter seeks to fulfill this goal using a mixed-methods research design to evaluate the success of the Bunche Research Fellowship (BRF) program. The BRF program is a tiered academic pipeline program that aims to increase the number of Black and underrepresented students attending graduate school and eventually a career in higher education. In addition to evaluating the BRF program, this chapter also examines the role mentoring played in patching the pipeline (path from an undergraduate degree to graduate degree) that leaks Black students out of careers in academia. Specifically, the authors used surveys and in-depth online interviews with a total of 12 students (5 undergraduate; 7 graduate) and nine faculty mentors to evaluate the role that mentorship played in improving Black student access to graduate school information and future leadership roles in postsecondary education. In total, the authors interviewed five undergraduates and two faculty members for the qualitative component of the study and evaluated survey data from all 21 participants. The authors used a combination of Socialization Theory and Critical Race Theory (CRT) to guide their investigation and interpret their findings. Using the results, the authors offer strategies for increasing and improving the pipeline for Black college students entering careers in higher education. The following research questions guide this study:
- 1.
How does the Bunche Research Fellows (BRF) program prepare undergraduate participants for graduate school, the graduate application process, and a career in academia?
- 2.
What role does the mentoring component of the BRF program play in improving program participants' access to their desired careers?
- 3.
What strategies can faculty, staff, and administration use to improve the pipeline for Black college students entering careers in higher education?
Key Terms in this Chapter
Mentors: A role model, partner, teacher, sponsor, advisor, or guide that helps a person learn the skills, habits, and techniques they need to access their desired careers.
Cross-Racial Mentoring: Mentoring relationships that occur, where the mentor/mentee do not share similar ethnic identities.
Higher Education: Levels of education pursued following secondary and post-secondary levels of education.
Mentorship: The process of socializing (teaching, partnering with, sponsoring, advising, being a role model, or guiding) a pupil into a field.
Socialization: A theory that refers to a process of acquiring and dispensing standards, customs, and beliefs.
Critical Race Theory (CRT): A field of academic inquiry created by legal scholars and coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in the 1970s to bring awareness to the lack of consideration that race received in law. While there is no fixed set of tenets that CRT scholars subscribe to, they work with two goals in mind: (1) to acknowledge how White supremacy is created and preserved in America, and (2) to change how race and power affect the law.
Pipeline: Educational pathways aimed at funneling undergraduate Black students into graduate-level education and careers in academia.
Black Student: Students who self-identify as Black and/or self-identity across the African diaspora.
Bunche Research Fellowship Program: A university-sponsored research program geared towards partnering Black undergraduate students with Black Faculty and graduate mentors.
Leadership: Commonly identified job positions and roles within academia that are often not occupied by people of color.