Mentoring in Academia: Considerations for ... - Dr. William Sedlacek

include examples of how noncognitive variables can help in conceptualizing aspects of
the mentor-protégé relationship. Then, we will include specific sections on mentoring
African Americans and Asian Americans, drawing both on professional literature and
personal experiences.
Mentoring African Americans
Traditionally, the selection of a mentor or protégé has followed the dictum of
shared interests, values or traits (Olian, Carroll, Giannantonio, & Feren 1988). The
rationale behind this is that the greater the commonality of the relationship, the greater
the ability to foster empathy. The mentor-protégé relationship for African American
students has tended to be defined racially (Collins, Kamya, & Tourse, 1997). However, as
the enrollment of African Americans on college campuses increases, the ability to
achieve same group mentoring has decreased. According to the National Center for
Education Statistics (2003), there are only 1.6 African American faculty members for
every 100 African American students although the ratio is better at Historically Black
Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) (Provasnik, Shafer, & Snyder, 2004). This is in
contrast to the experience of White students who have 4.4 White faculty members for
every 100 students. The ratio for African American students to African American faculty
becomes even more disproportionate in math and empirical sciences.
Previous research has shown that the presence of a mentor is related to retention
for African American students across majors and types of institutions (Vann Lynch,
2002; Sedlacek, 2004a) However, it appears that same-race mentor-protégé relationships
for students and academic faculty at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) require
greater effort on the part of African American faculty and students than do their