Mentorship across institutional contexts: Insights from biology and biomedical science undergraduates at two institutions.

Abstract

Mentoring is essential for the development of biology and biomedical science (BBS) students, providing multiple benefits, including increased persistence in the STEM workforce. Although much of the literature on undergraduate mentoring focuses on mentorship in research experiences, there is a growing recognition that additional mentoring relationships can support BBS students, and that the institutional context can influence academic mentoring. Therefore, it is crucial to understand: 1) the mentoring relationships that undergraduate BBS students are engaging in, 2) where and through what sources they receive mentorship, 3) the level of support they receive from their mentors, and 4) whether these trends differ by institution. To address these questions, we developed a mentoring-focused questionnaire, drawing from the Process-Oriented Model of Mentoring and the College Student Mentoring Scale, and distributed the questionnaire at two public, R1 institutions. We found that most BBS students at both institutions reported having a mentor. However, many of these students reported that their mentor was outside their institution or a peer mentor, emphasizing the role multiple mentors may have in the development of BBS students. Students reported a high level of perceived mentoring support in two areas: Degree and Career Support and Existence of a Role Model. Perceived mentoring support also correlated weakly with two aspects of a mentoring relationship: interaction frequency (weak negative correlation) and relationship length (weak positive correlation). This study provides a large, quantitative and descriptive analysis of BBS student mentoring relationships. Based on our results, covering a plethora of mentoring relationships, we provide recommendations directed to mentors, mentees, and mentoring program administrators. Our study also reveals a lack of evaluative tools that can be used for comparison of mentoring outcomes across institutions. Future research should focus on the development of mentoring-centric survey instruments that can be applied broadly across undergraduate BBS populations.