Mentoring African-American Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Undergraduates: An African-American STEM Mentor’s Perspective

One approach to understanding and learning about the African-American STEM college student experience is to examine the personal, professional, and mentoring experiences and mentoring relationships of African-American STEM mentors in higher education. In this paper, we examine the personal and professional experiences of an African-American STEM PhD mentor in higher education in an attempt to understand the African-American STEM college experience from the perspective of African-American mentors. As a pilot study of the first author’s dissertation research, this paper is not intended to generate theory or present a universalized narrative for all African-American STEM mentors. Rather, this study examines the preliminary findings of a storied experience of someone who can speak to the experience of being an African-American STEM undergraduate and mentor. Emergent themes from the narrative data focus on the potential needs of African-Americans in higher education to see others who look like them in academia and to have mentors who are knowledgeable about social and cultural resources. Future research should examine how mentors implement different methods and strategies to help their African-American protégés and how to help other mentors learn how to be better resources for protégés.