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Unexpected Accomplices: Effective Mentoring between a Black and White Woman Despite Historical Issues of Privilege, Power, and Positionality

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Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

Equity, Culture & Social Justice in Education Division (EQUITY) Technical Session 1

Tagged Divisions

Equity and Culture & Social Justice in Education Division (EQUITY)

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

18

DOI

10.18260/1-2--44550

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/44550

Download Count

345

Paper Authors

biography

Meagan Eleanor Ita Arvinas

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Dr. Meagan Ita is a Research Scientist at Arvinas working to develop disease modifying therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. Her career passion is to develop novel biotechnologies and therapeutics to better understand human physiology with the goal of equitably extending healthspan, ideally at the intersection of healthcare and STEM education. Meagan has experience as a Postdoctoral Scholar in Engineering Education from The Ohio State University (OSU), earned a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.S. and B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from OSU.

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biography

Monica Farmer Cox The Ohio State University

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Monica F. Cox, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair in the Department of Engineering Education at The Ohio State University. Prior to this appointment, she was a Associate Professor in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University, the Inaugural Direc

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Abstract

In this reflection piece, we, a Black woman faculty and a white woman postdoc in a research-intensive College of Engineering, discuss our relationship in the context of cross-racial mentoring where our positionalities (distinguished professor and postdoc) do not follow racial power historically (Black and white, respectively) in the United States. We describe how our professional relationship began during inflection points for both the Black professor and white postdoc and during the turbulent national and global events occurring in the final months of 2020. Despite this, our mentorship quickly developed into one led by humanity and based on an understanding of intersectional feminism. We identify core components of our relationship in efforts to lay out a conceptual framework that can be useful by other such mentorships and to situate our experience in the broader literature. We describe how we use the elements of Dialogue, Sisterhood, and Agency / Accountability to navigate complex issues of power. We hope that this piece will invite discussion on how white women trainees can develop cultural competencies in their relationships with Black and other Women of Color mentors. Broadly, we aim to facilitate discussion in the Engineering Education community about how positionality and power can be acknowledged to grow cultural competencies of the historically privileged while simultaneously preventing inequities and injustices of leaders from historically harmed and excluded groups.

Ita, M. E., & Cox, M. F. (2023, June), Unexpected Accomplices: Effective Mentoring between a Black and White Woman Despite Historical Issues of Privilege, Power, and Positionality Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--44550

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