Difficult Dialogues: Research mentoring across cultures NADYA A. FOUAD SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

Barriers to functional mentoring across cultures  Mentoring evaluated on products not process  Tension when minority students challenge “accepted” thinking  Need to protect the public, yet provide support and advocacy  Concerns about confidentiality  Selection process—biases exist  Understanding student’s culture  Understanding interaction between student’s culture and CSU

Questions to Ask Before Beginning  Do you have time to mentor?  What is your motivation to be a mentor?  What is the mentee’s goals? What is he/she looking for in mentoring?  How do you get started?  How do you align your goals/expectations with the mentee’s?

Mentoring Challenges  Providing inadequate direction  Conflicting demands  Conflicting advice  Mentee’s lack of commitment  Mentor perceived as lacking commitment  Mismatch between mentor and mentee

Signs of misalignment  Mentee and/or mentor dreads attending mentor meetings.  Mentor does not find the time to meet as agreed upon.  Mentor does not respond to written documents (grants, s) in a timely manner.  Mentee does not follow through on deadlines.  Mentee does not feel a sense of belonging within the professional culture.

Signs of misalignment  Mentee's work is successful, but movement toward independence is not being fostered by mentor (e.g. mentor does not give up authorship position, publically advocate for mentee, etc)  A sense of shared curiosity and teamwork is not present.  Mentor does most of the talking and direction-setting during mentoring meetings.  Mentor or mentee finds themselves avoiding the other.  Mentor and/or mentee avoids eye contact during mentor meetings. (Can be culturally relative.)

Mentoring across differences Be aware of your own assumptions Address differences openly Respect opinions Be open to different ways of looking at a problem/solution Be as non-defensive as possible Be proactive about solutions

Case example  You come across two racial/ethnic minority students speaking in the hallway—mentored by different faculty members in your department. You overhear, “…I don’t know what to do! He’s not giving me enough help. I don’t want to face the retribution if I complain. This place is not safe for anyone!” The other student agrees with the retribution of complaining to a faculty member. The student continues, “Advisors do not understand the students’ of color experiences on this campus…they can be very hostile towards us.”  What do you say or do?