1. University of Notre Dame
Creating a Conducive Environment for Underrepresented Students’ Academic Success
Arnel A. Bulaoro
University of Notre Dame
Dave A. Louis, PhD
Texas Tech University

2. University of Notre Dame
Introductions
Dave A. Louis, PhD
Texas Tech University
Arnel Bulaoro
University of Notre Dame

3. Large Group Activity Text to 37607 Text message : ARNELBULAORO159
Type in your response to the question: What one word identifies your biggest obstacle that prevents you from creating a mentoring program that matches students to faculty?

4. Learning Objectives
Identify institutional challenges that create barriers to the development of mentoring programs a college campus;
Become familiar with an effective model of student engagement that utilizes faculty, peer, and peer group relationships;
Develop strategies for recruiting and collaborating with faculty participants, as well as high level University officials;

5. What is Mentoring?
"Mentoring is to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in order that they may maximize their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be." (Eric Parsloe, The Oxford School of Coaching & Mentoring)

6. What is Mentoring?
Mentoring is a powerful personal development and empowerment tool. It is an effective way of helping people to progress in their careers and is becoming increasing popular as its potential is realized. It is a partnership between two people (mentor and mentee) normally working in a similar field or sharing similar experiences. It is a helpful relationship based upon mutual trust and respect.
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7. What is Mentoring?
A mentor is a guide who can help the mentee to find the right direction and who can help them to develop solutions to career issues. Mentors rely upon having had similar experiences to gain an empathy with the mentee and an understanding of their issues. Mentoring provides the mentee with an opportunity to think about career options and progress.
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8. Why is Mentoring Important?
Demystify a graduate program or career track by sharing stories, including mistakes, and providing guidance based on past experiences.
Help identify problems and provide solutions or offer constructive criticism in a supportive manner, lowering your stress level by making difficult periods in your career much easier to navigate.

9. Why is Mentoring Important?
Networking: Introduce and refer you to other associates and colleagues that can help further your career by providing recommendations for internship and job opportunities.
Provide you with a personal field based advocate, give you solid advice, and build your confidence.

10. Benefits to the Mentee/Protégé!
Developing practical skills in their respective field.
Obtaining opportunities to network and advice on how to grow those networks
Increase in productivity across the academic spectrum and improved personal effectiveness in relation to managing available resources
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11. Benefits to the Mentee/Protégé!
Managing relationships with other people
Taking the opportunity to challenge their own thinking.
Gaining insight into how the field’s culture operates - its values and its objectives
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12. What Does the Literature Say?
Hathaway, Nadga, and Gregerman (2002) postulate that “undergraduate students of color who participated in undergraduate research were more likely to pursue graduate education and to participate in further research activity” (p.626)
Strayhorn (2010) states that “colleges and universities have invested significant human and fiscal resources into establishing structured research programs and activities that stimulate undergraduate students’ interest” (p )

13. What Does the Literature Say?
One of the most rewarding aspects of UGREs is that it provides the student an opportunity to be mentored by a faculty member. Concurrently, faculty members engaged in UGREs have the unique forum to showcase the professoriate as a viable option for students and create opportunities to encourage doctoral level pursuits (Louis, Phillips, Louis & Smith, 2015, para. 6).

14. Building Bridges Mentoring Program
Through the mentorship of Notre Dame’s faculty, the Building Bridges Mentoring Program assists the University’s underrepresented population to succeed academically as young scholars in one of the nation’s premier educational institutions.

15. Building Bridges Mentoring Program
Building Bridges matches first-year students with faculty from the departments that the students wish to explore as potential majors, e.g. chemical engineering, biological sciences, and political science.

16. Building Bridges Mentoring Program
Along with faculty mentors, first-year students are assigned peer mentors (typically a senior) and grouped with other first-year students in the program who share the same academic interests.

17. Building Bridges Mentoring Program

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21. Q&A ? ? ? ? ? ? ?