Making Meaning through Mentorship: A Student-Led Layered Peer Mentorship Program

Miriam Howland Cummings; William Taylor Schupbach; Tom Altman; Michael S. Jacobson; Katherine Goodman; Maryam Darbeheshti

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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: First-Year Programs Division (FYP) - Technical Session 6: Mentors & Teams
Tagged Division: First-Year Programs Division (FYP)
Page Count: 10
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--43523
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/43523
Download Count: 172

Paper Authors

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Miriam Howland Cummings Ph.D. University of Colorado Denver orcid.org/0000-0002-8653-4489

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Miriam Howland Cummings is a mixed methods social science researcher. She earned a BA from Rice University and recently completed a PhD from the University of Colorado Denver while serving as a graduate research assistant for the Urban STEM Collaboratory. Dr. Howland Cummings' research focuses on engineering education, K-12 education, and the measurement of latent constructs.

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William Taylor Schupbach

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Tom Altman

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Tom Altman received his B.S. degrees in Computer Science and in Mathematics, and M.S. and Ph.D. (1984) in Computer Science, all from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Altman specializes in optimization algorithms, formal language theory, and complex syste

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Michael S. Jacobson orcid.org/0000-0003-0255-6507

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Dr. Mike Jacobson received his B.S. in Mathematics from the State University of New York @ Stony Brook in 1975. He completed his MS and PhD. In Mathematics at Emory University in 1977 and 1980, respectively. Dr. Jacobson’s mathematics specialization is Graph Theory and Combinatorics. He also has been actively involved in training pre-service and in-service teachers. He joined CU Denver in 2003 as Professor and Chair, after spending 23 years at the University of Louisville as Assistant, Associate and Professor, Chair, as well as Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies. Dr. Jacobson has published over 150 journal, conference, and technical papers. He has been a recipient, as PI or co-PI, of numerous research awards, including awards from the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation (in both Mathematical Sciences and Education and Human Resources).

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Katherine Goodman University of Colorado Denver orcid.org/0000-0002-5235-3372

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Katherine Goodman is an associate professor at the University of Colorado Denver, and curriculum lead at Inworks, an interdisciplinary innovation lab. Her research focuses on transformative experiences in engineering education. She has served as program chair and division chair of the Technological and Engineering Literacy - Philosophy of Engineering (TELPhE) Division.

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Maryam Darbeheshti University of Colorado Denver orcid.org/0000-0002-7988-0906

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Dr. Maryam Darbeheshti is Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado, Denver. She is the PI of a recent NSF award that focuses on STEM identity at Urban Universities.

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Abstract

This Complete Evidence-Based Paper presents research about a layered peer mentorship program for undergraduate engineering students at a public urban research university and provides data of ways that students have made meaning from their mentorship experiences. This mentorship program began in Fall 2019 and has grown to include the following layers: (a) first-year students who receive mentorship, (b) sophomore- and junior-level students who serve as mentors (all of whom received mentorship during their first year), (c) junior- and senior-level students who serve as lead mentors who design the program for that academic year (including content, group meetings, service projects, meeting schedules, etc.), (d) a graduate student who mentors and supervises the lead mentors, and (e) a faculty member who oversees the overall program, provides general guidance, and advises all the students. We will describe ways in which the participating students have made meaning of their experience in the program, highlighting three key areas: (1) the web of relationships formed, which cohere into a community; (2) students’ transitions from receiving mentorship as first-year students to mentoring others in their sophomore and junior years; and (3) the feedback and iteration process by which the program has continuously developed, which forefronts student voice and agency. The paper will provide specific examples in each of the three key areas described; with a special focus on students’ own descriptions of the meaning they have made through their participation in the mentorship program. Recommendations will also be shared for those interested in implementing similar programs on their campuses.

The mentorship program forms a complex web of relationships between and among students, and how these relationships cohere (coalesce) into a felt community for students. These relationships are forged by various means in various contexts. First, each student who receives mentorship is a first-year student in the Engineering Learning Community (ELC). In the ELC, first-year students take a bundle of courses together, with specific sections of English composition, math, and a first-year design innovations course. Second, the students who receive mentorship are assigned peer mentors who are sophomore- and junior-level students who were previously in the ELC. Mentees and mentors meet regularly in both individual and group meetings, which affords both individual and group relationships to form. All these interplaying individual and group relationships form a rich, complex web which coheres into a community for students.

Additionally, students also find meaning through their transition from mentee in their first year to mentor in their sophomore and junior years. This meaning is forged through personal growth, as well as through a reification of engineering identity when they are viewed as legitimate members of the community of engineering majors. When students become mentors, they transition into a position where first-year students look to them for advice, support, and encouragement. Mentors enact their identity as someone with experience who has valuable perspective to share. Mentors can feel more confident in their classes knowing that their status as an engineering major is respected and has been legitimated. Lastly, serving as a mentor is something students look forward to listing on their resume as a demonstration of teamwork and people skills which engineering employers so highly value.

A third way students make meaning from the mentorship program is through the feedback and iteration process by which the program is continuously formed. At the end of each semester, students submit formal, anonymous, formative feedback on the program. The suggestions students make are implemented almost immediately, making this mentorship program responsive and adaptable. Students in the program know that their feedback is taken seriously, and that they have the power to create the mentorship program they find most helpful. Additionally, the lead mentors have nearly complete autonomy to organize, schedule, and run the program as they see fit. The upper layers of the program – the graduate student and the faculty member – provide support, advice, and resources, but the students are the ones iterating and forming the program. Through these means, the program has evolved in several ways, including the introduction of group meetings and a semesterly service project, which were the direct implementations of student ideas. This focus on student voice and agency enables students to build self-efficacy and make meaning from their experiences with the mentorship program.

Citation
Format

Howland Cummings, M., & Schupbach, W. T., & Altman, T., & Jacobson, M. S., & Goodman, K., & Darbeheshti, M. (2023, June), Making Meaning through Mentorship: A Student-Led Layered Peer Mentorship Program Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43523

TY - CPAPER
AB - This Complete Evidence-Based Paper presents research about a layered peer mentorship program for undergraduate engineering students at a public urban research university and provides data of ways that students have made meaning from their mentorship experiences. This mentorship program began in Fall 2019 and has grown to include the following layers: (a) first-year students who receive mentorship, (b) sophomore- and junior-level students who serve as mentors (all of whom received mentorship during their first year), (c) junior- and senior-level students who serve as lead mentors who design the program for that academic year (including content, group meetings, service projects, meeting schedules, etc.), (d) a graduate student who mentors and supervises the lead mentors, and (e) a faculty member who oversees the overall program, provides general guidance, and advises all the students. We will describe ways in which the participating students have made meaning of their experience in the program, highlighting three key areas: (1) the web of relationships formed, which cohere into a community; (2) students’ transitions from receiving mentorship as first-year students to mentoring others in their sophomore and junior years; and (3) the feedback and iteration process by which the program has continuously developed, which forefronts student voice and agency. The paper will provide specific examples in each of the three key areas described; with a special focus on students’ own descriptions of the meaning they have made through their participation in the mentorship program. Recommendations will also be shared for those interested in implementing similar programs on their campuses.

The mentorship program forms a complex web of relationships between and among students, and how these relationships cohere (coalesce) into a felt community for students. These relationships are forged by various means in various contexts. First, each student who receives mentorship is a first-year student in the Engineering Learning Community (ELC). In the ELC, first-year students take a bundle of courses together, with specific sections of English composition, math, and a first-year design innovations course. Second, the students who receive mentorship are assigned peer mentors who are sophomore- and junior-level students who were previously in the ELC. Mentees and mentors meet regularly in both individual and group meetings, which affords both individual and group relationships to form. All these interplaying individual and group relationships form a rich, complex web which coheres into a community for students.

Additionally, students also find meaning through their transition from mentee in their first year to mentor in their sophomore and junior years. This meaning is forged through personal growth, as well as through a reification of engineering identity when they are viewed as legitimate members of the community of engineering majors. When students become mentors, they transition into a position where first-year students look to them for advice, support, and encouragement. Mentors enact their identity as someone with experience who has valuable perspective to share. Mentors can feel more confident in their classes knowing that their status as an engineering major is respected and has been legitimated. Lastly, serving as a mentor is something students look forward to listing on their resume as a demonstration of teamwork and people skills which engineering employers so highly value.

A third way students make meaning from the mentorship program is through the feedback and iteration process by which the program is continuously formed. At the end of each semester, students submit formal, anonymous, formative feedback on the program. The suggestions students make are implemented almost immediately, making this mentorship program responsive and adaptable. Students in the program know that their feedback is taken seriously, and that they have the power to create the mentorship program they find most helpful. Additionally, the lead mentors have nearly complete autonomy to organize, schedule, and run the program as they see fit. The upper layers of the program – the graduate student and the faculty member – provide support, advice, and resources, but the students are the ones iterating and forming the program. Through these means, the program has evolved in several ways, including the introduction of group meetings and a semesterly service project, which were the direct implementations of student ideas. This focus on student voice and agency enables students to build self-efficacy and make meaning from their experiences with the mentorship program.
AU - Miriam Howland Cummings Ph.D.
AU - William Taylor Schupbach
AU - Tom Altman
AU - Michael S. Jacobson
AU - Katherine Goodman
AU - Maryam Darbeheshti
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Making Meaning through Mentorship: A Student-Led Layered Peer Mentorship Program
UR - https://peer.asee.org/43523
DO - 10.18260/1-2--43523
ER -