difficult dialogues: research mentoring across cultures nadya a. fouad september 30, 2014

8
Difficult Dialogues: Research mentoring across cultures NADYA A. FOUAD SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

Upload: wesley-davidson

Post on 01-Jan-2016

214 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Difficult Dialogues: Research mentoring across cultures NADYA A. FOUAD SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

Difficult Dialogues: Research mentoring across culturesNADYA A. FOUAD

SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

Page 2: 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

Page 3: Difficult Dialogues: Research mentoring across cultures NADYA A. FOUAD SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

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?

Page 4: Difficult Dialogues: Research mentoring across cultures NADYA A. FOUAD SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

Mentoring Challenges

Providing inadequate direction

Conflicting demands

Conflicting advice

Mentee’s lack of commitment

Mentor perceived as lacking commitment

Mismatch between mentor and mentee

Page 5: Difficult Dialogues: Research mentoring across cultures NADYA A. FOUAD SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

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, emails) in a timely manner.

Mentee does not follow through on deadlines.

Mentee does not feel a sense of belonging within the professional culture.

Page 6: Difficult Dialogues: Research mentoring across cultures NADYA A. FOUAD SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

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.)

Page 7: Difficult Dialogues: Research mentoring across cultures NADYA A. FOUAD SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

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

Page 8: Difficult Dialogues: Research mentoring across cultures NADYA A. FOUAD SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

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?