Mentor Training to Improve Diversity in Science: Angela Byars-Winston and Sandra Crouse Quinn

Part 1: A Conversation on Culturally Aware Mentoring

00:00:12.17 Hello, my name is Angela Byars-Winston. And I'm an associate professor
00:00:17.25 in the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University
00:00:20.23 of Wisconsin, Madison.
00:00:22.09 And I'm Sandra Quinn. And I am a professor in the School of Public
00:00:27.21 Health at the University of Maryland in College Park.
00:00:30.08 And our topic today with you is on culturally aware mentoring.
00:00:36.03 We invite you to reflect on some of the conversations we're going to have
00:00:39.26 and some of the points we're going to raise, to think about
00:00:42.11 how could you be a more effective and culturally aware mentor.
00:00:47.11 All across the academic career stages, science is losing talent.
00:00:54.08 We're losing people who come from historically underrepresented
00:01:00.00 backgrounds. And by that, we mean African Americans, Latinos,
00:01:04.03 Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, some South Eastern Asian populations,
00:01:10.22 who fall out of the career trajectory some point along the way.
00:01:18.19 And so scientists often say, scientists are scientists, right?
00:01:23.28 And so race doesn't matter, or does it?
00:01:28.20 And that's a question we're going to talk about.
00:01:30.07 A lot of studies have really said that when we diversify the
00:01:36.29 biomedical research workforce, that we're going to actually
00:01:41.09 have better science and why. Because people from different
00:01:45.14 backgrounds may draw on different theories. They may ask
00:01:48.22 different research questions, they may recruit their participants
00:01:52.28 for studies in different ways.
00:01:54.24 They may offer different techniques for collecting data.
00:01:58.12 Absolutely. All of that will enrich the scientific enterprise.
00:02:03.18 And so the question really is, well, why if -- why are we struggling with
00:02:13.09 this issue? So the conversations about why we lack diversity
00:02:17.25 really are not happening because they're left to those people
00:02:21.20 who are in fact experiencing some of the challenges of being in our
00:02:26.16 academic research institutions. They're left to those underrepresented
00:02:30.21 scholars, for people that look like me. Often those conversations
00:02:36.26 are uncomfortable. We may feel like we're not prepared to
00:02:40.11 have them, we don't know how to have them, or we don't think
00:02:43.18 it's relevant to our science.
00:02:45.01 I think another piece I've seen with my colleagues is well identified individuals
00:02:51.00 is they perceive that if they talk about these issues they'll be contributing
00:02:54.08 to the problem. That talking about race and racial issues is contributing
00:02:59.25 to the disparity. And I think the other thing is many people are concerned
00:03:03.18 that they themselves may be seen as prejudiced by bringing
00:03:07.04 it up, perhaps when it's not even significant or important to
00:03:10.10 a trainee. And how do you know that?
00:03:13.19 And so I think today, we've elected an African American president
00:03:19.05 twice! We've had legislative victories like the Civil Rights Act,
00:03:23.26 and so -- you know, there's been a conversation about are we
00:03:27.17 in a post-racial society? But I would say that.. no, we're not.
00:03:35.29 Race and racism are alive and well. And they matter in science
00:03:41.11 and in our research training.
00:03:43.06 And we know from a lot of research that race, in particular, ethnicity
00:03:47.20 and gender, are still some of the strongest predictors of where
00:03:51.13 people end up in the labor market. So while many may argue
00:03:55.12 that developing a research scientist's career is really about the
00:03:59.01 product of having good training and an individual's commitment,
00:04:02.27 what is very clear is not equal opportunity and a sense of belonging
00:04:08.14 for all scholars of color. That the training landscape, the mentoring
00:04:14.10 landscape is unequal in the biomedical science field. And so we
00:04:19.22 know that the unconscious biases of privilege are unexamined
00:04:23.10 assumptions about how people have had success ignores our
00:04:27.19 history and inadvertently makes us focus on meritocracy,
00:04:32.04 the assumption that people achieve their successes based on
00:04:37.11 their individual efforts. And that means that if we ascribe to
00:04:41.10 meritocracy, then we interpret the world as fair. Then when individuals
00:04:45.09 and scientists struggle or do not succeed, we assume it must be
00:04:49.08 because of their own doing. So when we have these kinds of challenges,
00:04:54.05 a history of unexamined privileges, disparities in the training
00:04:58.02 environment, mentoring that may not be as effective in addressing
00:05:02.09 a cultural diversity that our trainees bring to the training environment.
00:05:05.23 When we have a history of inequity in higher education, what
00:05:11.16 is contributing to the problem then of the lack of diversity
00:05:14.25 in the biomedical sciences? We want to suggest there are four
00:05:18.18 ways, among many, that race and racism can still manifest
00:05:22.18 in the life of a trainee. The first is bias. And bias is simply
00:05:27.00 the assumptions that we have or the beliefs that we have
00:05:29.08 about a person that we make even before we get to know
00:05:32.17 them. There are some biases and stereotypes, for example,
00:05:36.01 about African Americans not being timely, having a more fluid
00:05:40.09 sense of time. And so I'm very aware of the bias, for example,
00:05:43.04 that might be towards me. And my behavior might be interpreted
00:05:46.19 if I turn in something late, or if I'm late with a review of an article,
00:05:50.08 for example. A second dynamic is privilege. And privilege is
00:05:55.02 simply the advantages that individuals give based on their
00:05:59.03 background. The third dynamic that we want to talk about is
00:06:02.15 racial microaggressions, and this is a term that's had some
00:06:05.10 popular press in the last couple of years that really has to do
00:06:08.17 with those subtle indirect insults or slights that can be
00:06:13.13 levied against a person, based on their particular racial
00:06:16.00 ethnic group membership. So for example, complimenting me
00:06:19.13 on how articulate I am, with some implication that there's a surprise
00:06:24.25 because of my racial ethnic identity, that I would be able to articulate
00:06:29.02 so well. Lastly, we want to talk about stereotype threat. Again,
00:06:34.29 a term that really has been used a lot, but captures these critical
00:06:39.16 issues around feeling the vulnerability of fulfilling a stereotype
00:06:43.26 about my group as an individual. The idea that something I do
00:06:48.07 as one person represents my entire group. And that's a lot.
00:06:54.03 It's a lot, but when I think about all of that, what I'm struck by is
00:06:59.14 how frequently many of the things you've described are just
00:07:03.19 sort of -- I would say, unacknowledged. That they happen
00:07:08.22 and we're not even aware of them happening. We may not be
00:07:12.16 aware of doing them or benefitting from them. And so I
00:07:16.06 think what we're really talking about when we talk about mentors,
00:07:19.20 is how do we help mentors become more aware of both their own
00:07:25.24 bias -- you know, I have biases that I bring to this table, but also
00:07:32.18 you know, be aware of how these might affect our trainees and mentees.
00:07:38.20 And going back to the subtlety of these issues, I think that
00:07:42.15 many of our colleagues are not doing anything deliberately.
00:07:45.27 That's right.
00:07:46.17 To be inequitable, to be dismissive, to be unresponsive.
00:07:51.15 It's the not acknowledging these issues that actually is contributing
00:07:54.25 to the problem. And so when we fail to recognize that these are realities
00:07:58.28 for many people. That is, this is not made up, but these are actual
00:08:04.00 documented concerns that many of our trainees are having
00:08:07.02 then we are better able to at least entertain the possibility of
00:08:11.14 exploring those issues with our trainees. And understand
00:08:14.27 what their experience is like from their perspective, without being
00:08:18.03 presumptuous. Because if it doesn't matter to me, then it must not
00:08:21.17 matter to my trainee, which would be a wrongness.
00:08:25.11 And so these are just a few of the factors that we just described
00:08:29.12 and the ways that the research environment can be challenging
00:08:33.15 for some trainees more than others. Especially those from groups
00:08:38.02 that have been historically underrepresented in the sciences.
00:08:41.16 And again, the issue is not about what mentors are doing directly
00:08:46.20 to be inequitable or to be culturally unresponsive, but the fact that
00:08:55.13 we need to be more aware and action-oriented in addressing
00:08:59.28 these issues in a proactive way.
00:09:01.27 And yet many mentors really don't feel equipped to address
00:09:07.00 cultural diversity issues with their mentees. And it's not because
00:09:10.26 they may not want to, but I think we have to remember a couple of
00:09:14.06 things. It's few of us are ever trained to be mentors, just
00:09:18.28 mentors, and then to think, "Well, were we ever trained to address
00:09:24.09 issues of race or racism or cultural diversity in our mentoring?"
00:09:28.18 For most of us, the answer is no. We've learned that along the
00:09:32.07 way, perhaps. Or maybe we haven't.
00:09:34.19 And I think a critical piece to this learning along the way is that we
00:09:38.22 don't want to leave such high stakes relationships to chance.
00:09:42.21 Mentoring relationships are the critical medium for building
00:09:46.19 the next generation of scientists. And we spend more time
00:09:49.25 dedicating ourselves to the actual science, designing good
00:09:53.17 studies, generating good research questions, selecting the
00:09:57.03 right techniques to analyze our data and to do our science,
00:10:00.27 and yet, we don't take any of that systematic skill to building
00:10:05.01 effective mentoring relationships. And so when you talk about
00:10:08.09 the fact that many of us are not equipped to address these
00:10:12.25 issues, we have to consider the fact that this is a high stakes
00:10:16.04 relationship that is worth the time.
00:10:18.22 It's not just worth the time, but I think it's worth the time because
00:10:23.21 these are also -- a good mentor is forming a longterm relationship
00:10:28.29 with their mentees that will stay with them. And in fact, model
00:10:33.10 for their mentees how to be mentors themselves. And so it
00:10:38.15 really is an investment that pays off, not just in our science
00:10:43.12 with our mentee, but pays off over, I think is paying off over
00:10:48.04 generations.
00:10:49.23 The point is, these relationships either make or break a
00:10:54.25 trainee's experience and their success.
00:10:58.14 So, I guess the question is, when you think about your colleagues,
00:11:02.25 Angela, what do you think it's like for them and what's it like
00:11:06.11 for you to talk about race and racism in that academic setting?
00:11:11.06 What's it like to bring in other factors that are often, you know
00:11:15.04 in that, what we call intersectionality, intersect in our identity
00:11:18.04 like gender, or religion, or sexual orientation. You know those
00:11:23.09 are often conversations that I sometimes want to have, and
00:11:27.21 often do have, but that doesn't mean I don't get a little "hmmm"
00:11:31.16 -- a little thing in my stomach before I open the door.
00:11:35.13 Yours is in your stomach, mine is in my throat.
00:11:37.24 So my concerns specifically around these conversations, especially
00:11:41.29 talking about intersectionality as an African American woman
00:11:44.26 is my concern that some of my colleagues, when I bring up issues
00:11:48.10 around equity, for example, how as a pre-tenure member of
00:11:52.15 faculty, I was assigned certain committees like, the diversity committee.
00:11:56.08 Of course. Because you were --
00:11:58.23 Because I am the symbol of diversity.
00:12:01.08 That's right, the one and only.
00:12:03.21 And so some of these conversations were raising these issues,
00:12:07.07 especially for later stage kind of early career faculty, my concerns that
00:12:11.18 people will see me as having an angle or ax to grind. Of course
00:12:15.22 you would bring up these issues because look at the skin they're in
00:12:18.03 and look at your chromosomal makeup. And so of course you would
00:12:21.28 have these issues on your radar screen. And part of the challenge,
00:12:25.04 going back to the earlier point you made about we're all in this
00:12:28.28 together, is that when the onus falls on the diversity issues on
00:12:32.24 the shoulder of the people who are affected by it most visibly,
00:12:36.26 that is racial, ethnic groups that have been historically underrepresented
00:12:40.26 in the sciences, it leaves all that diversity work on their shoulders.
00:12:45.05 And it's exhausting.
00:12:47.06 And I know exactly what you're saying and I watched it happen,
00:12:50.22 but I would say that we're all affected. And so the part of my role
00:12:57.14 is to say, when can I raise some of those issues so that it
00:13:01.28 enables you, for example, to step back. It's not coming just
00:13:06.14 from you. So, but you know, sometimes I would -- you know, I'll admit
00:13:12.22 that at times, I've been worried about what kinds of reactions would
00:13:16.17 I get, not so much with colleagues, but even when I raise this with
00:13:21.06 some of my trainees who raise these issues. So, it's a delicate
00:13:27.21 line, I think, for many of how do we do this well? Because we
00:13:33.03 have not been trained, and yet we want to and don't want
00:13:38.01 to leave things unsaid that I know need to be said.
00:13:41.24 I'll give you an example, one of my doctoral students, a young
00:13:47.12 African American man, so I've been with him from the time he came in
00:13:50.17 and chaired his dissertation. When it came time to start looking
00:13:54.16 for his postdoc and later his faculty position, he has dreads.
00:14:00.12 And we had a real conversation about, did he think he needed to
00:14:07.15 change how he looked? That's the only way I've known him for 5
00:14:11.23 years. And. But I'm certain that not everyone might have even wanted
00:14:19.18 to have that conversation. And yet for him, this was a real concern.
00:14:23.17 Do I have to do something different, and yet this is me.
00:14:28.15 This is part of me.
00:14:30.16 I had a similar experience when I was in my doctoral program
00:14:34.05 going on the job market. I was wearing my hair in braids at the time.
00:14:37.26 I've shared this story before, that one of my mentors pulled me aside
00:14:42.26 and said, "As you go on these job talks, you might want to take
00:14:46.11 the braids out, wear your hair in a traditional straight style,
00:14:49.03 wear navy blue suit, a basic white blouse, a single string of pearls,
00:14:53.16 flesh colored stockings, black shoes." Because the message that
00:14:57.19 she was asking to think about was how do I present myself
00:15:01.14 as a scientist so that my identities don't get in the way of people
00:15:06.05 hearing my science? And it was an interesting conversation
00:15:09.22 we had, it was difficult, because in addition to having to prep and do all
00:15:13.13 the things that every one of my other colleagues were doing
00:15:15.17 just to get ready to give the job talk itself, there were all these other
00:15:18.26 identities that I was negotiating. These other issues about how
00:15:22.21 the world views me and my science with this amount of melanin,
00:15:27.14 with this type of presentation, with these types of styles of hair.
00:15:31.18 And so as we think about ways that our trainees might be dealing
00:15:36.08 with issues, again, I think as our viewers are considering these issues,
00:15:39.19 they're not those big messages that you don't belong here,
00:15:43.01 or that you're not good enough -- they're subtle. And they require
00:15:46.29 ongoing navigation for many of our trainees, which is a critical
00:15:51.03 piece when we start thinking about being culturally aware.
00:15:53.07 It's not just what I am aware about in myself as a mentor,
00:15:56.20 but to what extent am I tuning in to the cultural experiences
00:15:59.22 of my trainees.
00:16:01.09 Absolutely. And I think what we've been talking about is captured
00:16:06.03 somewhat by this disconnect between the mentees who
00:16:10.04 often want to have these conversations and mentors who feel
00:16:14.02 less comfortable. And so for many mentees, some of my mentees
00:16:19.14 certainly, they want to know about sort of how might their racial
00:16:24.24 or cultural identity play out as they go through their academic program.
00:16:30.00 What -- How does it make -- You know, how does it influence their
00:16:35.22 career choice? For example, in public health, a number of my
00:16:39.01 mentees are devoted to working on issues of health disparities.
00:16:43.02 And many of the African American young scholars want to
00:16:46.25 work on African American disparities. And yet, they've had people say
00:16:51.22 to them, "Well, that's personal. That's not science." So how do
00:16:57.25 they, you know, that's got to be a conversation. How do
00:17:00.23 you sort of deal with that intersection between your identity
00:17:04.17 and your science. And how does that influence, you know, where
00:17:09.05 you go in your career? And then how do you overcome, how do you
00:17:12.15 deal with those times when you're told, put on your navy
00:17:15.14 blue suit and change your hairstyle. What do you do?
00:17:18.05 And how do you create the space, in terms of being a culturally
00:17:22.24 aware mentor for these conversations to actually happen?
00:17:26.17 It doesn't mean that I have all the answers, certainly in that
00:17:28.23 experience, I'm sure with your former trainees, that you didn't have all
00:17:32.24 the answers. But joining with that person right where they are,
00:17:37.26 with authentic conversations, and it's not about perfection, it's
00:17:41.13 about connection.
00:17:42.20 Connection and listening, really listening.
00:17:46.17 So I think many of us, I would say this was probably true
00:17:51.08 in my young years, that growing up that I was taught to be
00:17:57.01 colorblind. Which was actually an improvement over some
00:18:00.05 of the other messages I got. But what happens, I think when
00:18:04.16 many mentors think they're colorblind is really captured with this
00:18:08.18 young lady saying -- responding to a mentor who says, "I don't
00:18:14.13 see color." And her very poignant question is does that mean
00:18:19.10 you don't see me? So by not seeing who people are, what are we
00:18:25.22 missing? And how are we in fact, harming their ability to move
00:18:32.25 forward and our ability to help them move forward as scholars?
00:18:36.14 And we want to push the envelope I think around this colorblind
00:18:39.15 attitude ideology. Which is, it's not about -- the problem wasn't about
00:18:43.19 seeing color, it's what we do with the color when we see it.
00:18:47.12 And so, that's part of being culturally aware, is how do we
00:18:51.15 allow this data to come in without having judgment with
00:18:54.25 it? Noticing it without judging it, without allowing it to be apart
00:18:58.10 of the data in the mentoring relationship that I use as a mentor
00:19:01.27 to enrichen that relationship. And so a key takeaway point, I think,
00:19:06.24 of what we've been sharing is that it's really important for mentors
00:19:10.17 to be more than well-intentioned, they have to be intentional.
00:19:15.07 And that can't be underscored enough, because many of
00:19:18.11 my colleagues say, "I don't mean any harm. I'm showing up
00:19:21.27 every day. I'm giving my trainees my best self. I'm writing
00:19:25.02 recommendations for them. They're graduating. They're getting
00:19:28.19 positions. They're getting fellowships." And we're saying
00:19:32.02 it's not just about having good intentions, being culturally
00:19:35.19 aware is more than having good manners. It's about being
00:19:39.15 responsive to the actual cultural context of those mentoring
00:19:43.15 relationships. So Sandra, we've shared a lot with our viewers thus far.
00:19:50.06 We've talked about what the problem of diversity in the biomedical
00:19:53.07 sciences is. We've talked about some of the challenges and the
00:19:56.23 factors that are contributing to it. We've talked about some of the
00:19:59.22 complicating factors that make it hard to address it.
00:20:03.22 So now we want to bring it to, how can we actually address
00:20:07.24 the problems? What are some of the things that we could do?
00:20:10.06 And there's sort of three components to addressing these issues
00:20:14.22 in scientific mentoring. And one is really addressing cultural
00:20:19.16 diversity and awareness at the individual level. So really
00:20:24.00 having the mentors begin to look at themselves and what do
00:20:28.03 they bring to that mentoring relationship that may be helpful,
00:20:32.27 what do they bring that may not be helpful? In terms of
00:20:36.11 working with their trainees.
00:20:38.25 And I appreciate your highlighting the importance of cultural
00:20:42.19 self-awareness as a first level of these three factors that we want
00:20:46.03 to talk about, because it's that individual cultural self-awareness that's
00:20:49.26 critical for this second point. Which is being able to respond
00:20:53.11 to and recognize cultural diversity in the research mentor
00:20:57.21 relationships. And so it's that individual cultural self=awareness
00:21:01.08 that becomes the foundation for building more culturally
00:21:04.10 responsive mentoring relationships.
00:21:06.26 I think that there's a third point that is really important here
00:21:12.13 is, as we do as mentors this self work to raise our awareness,
00:21:17.28 and we work with our mentees to enhance our abilities to address
00:21:22.28 the needs of diverse mentees, that there's a third part of it and
00:21:27.22 that is really advocating for systemic change at the institutional
00:21:32.03 level. So, we want our students and our trainees to really benefit
00:21:38.10 from environments that are welcoming, that value who they are
00:21:43.02 as cultural beings, as well as their roles as trainees.
00:21:47.27 And so, that's the -- it's really a package of three initiatives
00:21:52.26 And that critical piece around systematic institutional change
00:21:57.12 can't be underscored enough, because many of our mentors are doing
00:22:01.20 fantastic in terms of their relationships and they can do better
00:22:06.01 by being more culturally aware. But even if those mentoring
00:22:09.26 relationships and culturally responsive, our trainees will
00:22:14.04 graduate, they go onto other contexts, they go onto other environments,
00:22:17.21 which may not be as inclusive, affirming, and equitable.
00:22:21.23 And so part of the commitment to supporting systemic
00:22:26.02 change and institutional change is making the training environment,
00:22:30.00 our professional environments, dare we say, science period,
00:22:33.04 more equitable, inclusive, affirming for a wider range of our trainees.
00:22:39.04 So this is our mentor training core team and they have been
00:22:43.16 with us along this journey. And they have also helped us
00:22:48.22 develop some of the trainings that you will hear about in the next talk.
00:22:55.08 So we'd like to invite you at this point to make a commitment
00:22:58.04 to improving your own cultural awareness as a mentor.
00:23:01.10 And specifically with an eye towards being a more effective
00:23:04.15 mentor for a wider range of trainees. We encourage you to
00:23:08.24 please sign up at NRMNet.net and get involved in the training
00:23:13.16 and the resources available to you.

Part 2: Resources & Strategies to Enhance Culturally Aware Mentoring

00:00:14.05 Hello. My name is Angela Byars-Winston
00:00:16.24 and I'm an associate professor
00:00:18.28 in the School of Medicine and Public Health
00:00:20.25 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
00:00:23.26 Hello. I'm Sandra Quinn
00:00:25.27 and I am a professor in the School of Public Health
00:00:28.16 at the University of Maryland in College Park.
00:00:31.15 This is the second in a two-part video series
00:00:34.21 that we began with a conversation on
00:00:37.05 culturally aware mentoring.
00:00:39.03 This focuses on strategies and resources, now,
00:00:42.29 to enhance your culturally aware mentoring.
00:00:45.26 To increase your cultural responsiveness
00:00:48.04 to diversity matters in the mentoring relationship,
00:00:50.20 we suggest that it's useful for you
00:00:53.22 to understand two things.
00:00:56.20 One is diversity-related experiences
00:00:59.02 and how those can contribute to institutional barriers
00:01:01.04 that can challenge the career trajectories
00:01:03.28 of many of our diverse trainees.
00:01:06.09 You might be asking yourself, as a mentor,
00:01:09.16 how can I identify these barriers?
00:01:11.21 We suggest that there are two factors for you to focus on.
00:01:14.25 One is institutional factors or environmental factors
00:01:19.06 that may be affecting the context of the mentoring relationships,
00:01:22.11 and secondly are institutional factors
00:01:24.27 that are happening between the individuals
00:01:27.13 in the relationship.
00:01:30.00 Connecting these two factors,
00:01:32.20 the institutional and the individual factors,
00:01:34.23 will help you better understand
00:01:37.14 the cultural contexts of the career development
00:01:39.27 of our trainees and colleagues of color.
00:01:42.12 The first factor, institutional or
00:01:46.08 understanding the environmental factors,
00:01:48.05 may prompt you to ask questions like:
00:01:50.10 What is the culture of your lab or your research team?
00:01:53.15 How much diversity is reflected in your trainees?
00:01:56.28 Amongst your faculty?
00:01:58.29 How must diversity is reflected in your promotional materials, for example?
00:02:02.20 You might also ask a question like,
00:02:04.21 how has you lab been welcoming to previous trainees?
00:02:07.19 And does how welcoming it is differ by
00:02:11.09 race, ethnicity, or gender?
00:02:13.21 Those are critical questions, Angela,
00:02:15.24 and some other questions to consider
00:02:18.18 are those that might help us understand the individual.
00:02:21.09 And so, you might ask yourself,
00:02:26.05 well, what is my cultural identity?
00:02:28.13 What is my racial or ethnic identity?
00:02:30.09 What biases or experiences
00:02:33.20 with racial or ethnic minorities
00:02:37.25 do I bring to the mentoring relationship?
00:02:39.18 And how might that affect that relationship?
00:02:42.28 Talking about these issues of race and racism and diversity,
00:02:47.10 they're often difficult conversations,
00:02:49.13 as we've shared before.
00:02:51.10 So, I'd like to invite you to
00:02:56.17 take a look at this self-assessment
00:02:58.28 and really look at your readiness to engage
00:03:01.22 in these difficult conversations.
00:03:04.05 One of the things that I want you to think about
00:03:08.01 is that we all bring vulnerabilities to the conversation.
00:03:11.27 It might be that you have
00:03:18.27 a family member who is married to somebody of a different race.
00:03:23.08 It might be that you live...
00:03:25.10 have lived all your life in an only-white community.
00:03:30.00 Those are your vulnerabilities that might make this more difficult.
00:03:35.05 But you may also bring some strengths,
00:03:37.13 and maybe those strengths are that you've had,
00:03:40.08 you know, a close friend
00:03:42.28 that you've been able to talk to
00:03:45.05 and ask questions of who is of a different race.
00:03:47.16 We also, then, recognize that, along with your vulnerabilities and your strengths,
00:03:53.12 you may have needs.
00:03:55.14 So, maybe I need to learn
00:03:59.20 how to better ask a question of my trainees
00:04:02.06 that allows them to share their experience with me?
00:04:06.26 And our training can help us really learn
00:04:12.05 to do a better job as a mentor.
00:04:15.22 It helps us to think about,
00:04:18.10 what are some of the ways that cultural diversity
00:04:20.15 is relevant in our mentoring relationships?
00:04:22.17 And how can individual mentors
00:04:25.07 counteract the factors that may compromise
00:04:29.10 the success of our trainees?
00:04:31.20 And so, in this section,
00:04:34.03 Sandra and I want to describe a couple of learning opportunities
00:04:37.13 that you might consider as you commit to
00:04:41.07 promoting and advancing your own cultural awareness.
00:04:43.05 These are learning opportunities that are available to you now,
00:04:45.22 they're available to you electronically,
00:04:48.12 and they're easily accessible.
00:04:51.18 Angela and I are part of a larger consortium and team
00:04:55.23 of colleagues around the country at different institutions,
00:04:58.14 and we have this one focus in the National Research Mentoring Network,
00:05:02.22 and that is really increasing the success of trainees
00:05:07.23 from undergraduate through junior faculty,
00:05:10.17 through helping them become effective mentees,
00:05:14.13 and helping us become more effective mentors.
00:05:19.09 This is our website,
00:05:21.04 the National Research Mentoring Website,
00:05:23.05 and we really do reach out,
00:05:26.12 with a variety of in-person and online training
00:05:31.00 webinars and other kinds of learning experiences,
00:05:33.14 to everyone from undergraduates to junior faculty.
00:05:38.15 It's really a training hub
00:05:40.28 and you can take advantage of face-to-face mentor training,
00:05:44.16 face-to-face mentee training,
00:05:46.21 which is something we haven't talked much about yet,
00:05:49.10 as well as online training,
00:05:51.26 and training-the-trainer workshops.
00:05:54.26 An important feature of the resources that are available
00:05:57.27 through the National Research Mentoring Network
00:05:59.26 is that they are capitalizing
00:06:03.19 on a wide body of research,
00:06:05.19 where we've spent time over the years
00:06:07.22 collating and identifying,
00:06:09.27 what are the elements that make for effective mentoring relationships?
00:06:12.04 And we have several skillsets of that have been identified,
00:06:14.20 that include inter/disciplinary research skills,
00:06:18.20 interpersonal skills,
00:06:20.17 culturally-focused skills,
00:06:23.18 psychosocial skills, and sponsorship skills.
00:06:25.14 And all of these combined help to think about
00:06:28.19 various ways that mentors can start to focus on
00:06:30.26 different areas of growth in terms of their professional development
00:06:33.14 towards being more culturally responsive
00:06:35.17 and being more effective.
00:06:37.18 Additionally, we have several curricula
00:06:39.25 that are available for both mentors and mentees.
00:06:43.01 They've been adapted for various folk across different science disciplines
00:06:47.09 -- in the physical sciences, the life sciences,
00:06:50.22 social sciences, community-based research --
00:06:52.26 and we want to emphasize that they're available to you
00:06:57.00 for both mentors and mentees,
00:06:59.02 because it's really about the relationship
00:07:01.07 that we're trying to improve
00:07:03.12 and we need to empower our trainees, as well,
00:07:05.28 to be authentic and effective in maximizing these relationships.
00:07:08.15 We also have some online opportunities,
00:07:11.12 web-based modules, like optimizing
00:07:14.06 the practice of mentoring,
00:07:16.02 which is an asynchronous learning format,
00:07:17.28 and only takes 90 minutes to 120 minutes.
00:07:22.08 But this is available for people who are
00:07:24.21 both experienced and inexperienced mentors,
00:07:27.07 and they can do it at their own pace.
00:07:29.11 Another resource that's available to you
00:07:33.16 is through the center for the improvement of mentored experiences and research.
00:07:37.00 The website is cimerproject.org
00:07:38.26 and it's very similar to some of the offerings
00:07:41.04 that we've just discussed at NRMN.net.
00:07:44.11 Additional resources that you might find
00:07:49.10 through the CIMER website
00:07:52.05 include tools for improving your effectiveness
00:07:55.19 and evaluating and assessing and intervening
00:07:57.02 in your mentoring relationships,
00:07:59.06 as well as consultative opportunities,
00:08:01.02 if you're interested in developing new projects,
00:08:03.06 new training opportunities for your own practice.
00:08:07.27 We've also spent a lot of this year
00:08:12.06 developing a culturally aware mentoring training,
00:08:15.28 and so part of what you heard Angela and I talk about
00:08:19.16 in the previous video was really some of the content of that training.
00:08:23.21 And it's really one of the initiatives
00:08:26.03 that's aimed at increasing
00:08:29.20 the success and the effectiveness of mentors
00:08:33.18 and mentees working together.
00:08:35.09 We have a number of training objectives
00:08:37.29 and we achieve those objectives
00:08:39.28 by going through several different components of the module,
00:08:42.26 from cultural awareness,
00:08:45.07 looking at our own selves as cultural beings,
00:08:47.28 learning cultural strategies and behaviors,
00:08:51.09 and then finally
00:08:54.14 really enhancing our skills
00:08:57.11 and learning to be more culturally confident,
00:09:00.11 committing to this as an ongoing learning opportunity.
00:09:05.11 Over this last, as Sandra mentioned,
00:09:07.13 we've had the opportunity to implement
00:09:10.05 the culturally aware mentoring
00:09:12.17 across several campuses nationwide.
00:09:14.10 We've searched over 60 mentors,
00:09:16.10 and that's growing, most of whom said that they would be likely or very likely
00:09:21.23 to recommend this workshop to other mentors.
00:09:23.27 Most of them have indicated that they are likely or very likely to make changes in their own mentoring.
00:09:28.12 We're particularly excited that many of the mentors
00:09:32.04 who participated in this workshop
00:09:35.05 have reported that they have significant gains in being more intentional
00:09:37.16 in creating opportunities to discuss race and ethnicity
00:09:41.01 in their own mentoring relationships.
00:09:42.27 And, just as importantly, they have now
00:09:45.27 new strategies to actually address race and ethnicity
00:09:48.24 in the mentoring relationship.
00:09:50.14 As Sandra mentioned,
00:09:52.12 not only do we have this culturally aware mentoring module for our mentors,
00:09:56.15 but we're developing it now for our trainees.
00:09:58.11 And so, if you're interested for more information,
00:10:01.06 please contact the NRMN Mentor Training Core.
00:10:06.00 This is our mentor...
00:10:08.18 culturally aware mentoring team,
00:10:10.20 it's part of the Mentor Training Core
00:10:13.11 who have worked with us on the culturally awareness module.
00:10:17.21 We are part, as we said,
00:10:20.21 of the National Research Mentor Network,
00:10:23.01 which is funded by the National Institutes of Health.
00:10:25.28 It's part of their national commitment
00:10:28.12 to diversify the biomedical research workforce.
00:10:32.07 And you can connect with us through lots of different social networks,
00:10:36.06 so you see on this screen
00:10:39.16 everything from Facebook to YouTube.
00:10:41.14 Thank you for your time in joining us
00:10:45.24 in the second of a two-part series
00:10:48.21 that began with our conversation on culturally aware mentoring
00:10:50.29 and its relevance for increasing
00:10:53.13 the effectiveness of mentoring relationships.
00:10:55.10 And now we have strategies and resources
00:10:58.05 that we've provided to you
00:11:00.15 to continue your own professional development towards being
00:11:02.15 a culturally aware mentor.

Videos in this Talk

Part 1: A Conversation on Culturally Aware Mentoring
Audience:
- Student
- Researcher
- Educators of H. School / Intro Undergrad
- Educators of Adv. Undergrad / Grad
Part 2: Resources & Strategies to Enhance Culturally Aware Mentoring
Audience:
- Student
- Researcher
- Educators of H. School / Intro Undergrad
- Educators of Adv. Undergrad / Grad

Speakers: Sandra Crouse Quinn, Angela Byars-Winston

Total Duration: 0:35:16

Recorded: October 2016

All Talks in NRMN Resources

Talk Overview

Most mentors don’t feel prepared to address diversity matters with trainees from historically underrepresented (HU) backgrounds. To improve mentoring relationships and support the persistence and success of HU individuals in science, the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) has developed new mentor training to equip mentors with the skills and knowledge necessary to support a diverse scientific workforce.

In the first video, Byars-Winston and Crouse Quinn discuss how racism and a lack of cultural diversity awareness in mentoring relationships negatively impacts trainees from HU backgrounds. They offer concrete examples of how culturally aware mentor training helps individuals identify the personal assumptions, biases and privileges that may operate in their research mentoring relationships. In the second video, Byars-Winston and Crouse Quinn offer mentor training resources and strategies to help individuals become more culturally aware, and thus better mentors.

Speaker Bio

Sandra Crouse Quinn

Dr. Sandra Crouse Quinn is a Professor in the Department of Family Science, where she directs the doctoral program in Maternal and Child Health and Senior Associate Director of the Center for Health Equity at the School of Public Health, University of Maryland at College Park. She is a co-Investigator in the Mentor Training Core… Continue Reading

Angela Byars-Winston

Dr. Angela Byars-Winston is a counseling psychologist and Professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Medicine, and Director of Research and Evaluation in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Women’s Health Research. Her research examines cultural influences on academic and career development, especially for racial and ethnic minorities and women in the sciences, engineering,… Continue Reading