Mentoring and Diversity: Tips for Students and Professionals for Developing and Maintaining a Diverse Scientific Community / Edition 1

by Thomas Landefeld

Overview

Mentoring has always been an important factor in life and particularly in academia. In fact, making choices about educational pursuits and subsequent careers without input from mentors can prove disastrous. Fortunately, many individuals have “na- ral” mentors and for them these choices are greatly facilitated. Others are not pri- leged with natural mentors and as such often struggle with making these tough choices. Many times these individuals are from under served and disadvantaged backgrounds, where mentors are too few and far between. For them, deciding on which career path to take can be based not only on insufficient information but oft times on inaccurate information. Although the tips in this monograph are designed for helping all individuals who are interested in pursuing the study of science and science careers, a special mentoring focus is on those students who have not expe- enced the advantages of the privileged class. Additionally, tips are included for those who are interested in effectively mentoring these individuals. How and why a person gets to that point of wanting to mentor is not as important as the fact that they have made that commitment and this monograph will help them do exactly that. When I received my PhD in Reproductive Endocrinology from the University of Wisconsin, I was ready and anxious to discover all kinds of new and exciting aspects about this field of science.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441907776
Publisher:	Springer New York
Publication date:	10/15/2009
Series:	Mentoring in Academia and Industry , #4
Edition description:	2010
Pages:	105
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)

Table of Contents

Making Decisions About Careers in Science.- Mentors and Mentoring.- Minorities in Science.- Precollege and College Preparation for Becoming a Scientist.- Graduate vs. Professional School.- The Application Process.- Faculty Advising and Mentoring.- Surviving in Professional Careers.- Wrap Up and Guidelines.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Marion C. Cohen, PhD (SUNY Downstate Medical Center)
Description: In this fourth volume in the Mentoring in Academia and Industry series, the focus is on mentoring to develop as well as maintain a diverse scientific community. Compelling statistics show that it has been difficult for underrepresented minorities to expand their representation in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Some of the historical reasons are discussed in this book, with suggestions on how to remedy the situation.
Purpose: The author started out in a traditional scientific career, but along the way he became involved in student and minority affairs and he left bench research to devote himself to making a difference in the area of minority representation, ultimately assuming an administrative position at a Minority Serving Institution (MSI). He wrote the book to provide underrepresented minority students with information on scientific careers and suggestions on how they could go about achieving their goals. Although there are many articles on these topics, as evidenced by the references in this book, there has been little written for students giving them a systematic approach. This is true not only for minority students, but for all students who have been previously discouraged from pursuing a STEM career.
Audience: The book is clearly directed at students, but raises important points for advisors as well. Based on his many years of experience, the author is knowledgeable about the advising and mentoring processes at many different levels.
Features: In some respects, the facts presented in the book are not new to those who are in academic institutions. However, for anyone unfamiliar with the reasons that minority students are not increasing their representation in science at a faster rate, the explanations are well done. More importantly, the need for students to understand why they need mentors (probably more than one) is very well articulated. In pointing out the many the reasons why students do not go on to scientific careers, there is little discussion of the need to begin capturing their attention as early as elementary school to achieve greater success. Perhaps this is outside the aims of the book, which seems to be more for students considering a scientific career but aren't quite sure. The book would certainly provide the basis for excellent guidance sessions.
Assessment: The realization that mentoring is a complex and importance process has only begun to be understood relatively recently. Because of this, most of the references are recent and the number of books dealing with this topic relatively few. Certainly, there is a lack of books that focus on underrepresented minorities in science. Furthermore, much of the advice about finding mentors and maintaining relationships, as well as the information on choosing careers, will be of benefit to any student.

Doody's Review Service

From the reviews: “In this fourth volume in the Mentoring in Academia and Industry series, the focus is on mentoring to develop as well as maintain a diverse scientific community. … The book is clearly directed at students, but raises important points for advisors as well. … would certainly provide the basis for excellent guidance sessions. … much of the advice about finding mentors and maintaining relationships, as well as the information on choosing careers, will be of benefit to any student.” (Marion C. Cohen, Doody’s Review Service, January, 2010)

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