An Exploration Of Mentor-Protege Relationships And How To Train Future Mentors

Mentors-protégé relationships have been shown to improve retention of women and under-represented students in computing (Cohoon, 2011). Mentorship relationships are also the driving factor in female students' selection and completion of a computing career (Ashcraft, Eger, & Friend, 2012). More generally, mentor-protégé relationships are a significant factor in retaining and encouraging under-represented students in many academic fields. Beginning with a brief discussion of our experience facilitating mentorship between female undergraduate and middle school computing students, this Birds of a Feather Session will provide a platform for the exploration of mentor training techniques and mentor-protégé relationships. We will discuss and share different strategies (e.g. readings, hands-on workshops) for training mentors and facilitating strong mentor-protégé relationships. We will also explore how mentorship relationships affect student performance in all school subjects and how to best create a broad mentorship experience that extends beyond computing. Using a summary of recent literature as a springboard, we will consider optimal mentor-protégé age gaps, experience levels and interaction frequencies. Finally, we will explore session participant's personal experiences as mentors/protégés and compile a list of "do's and don'ts" for those facilitating or participating in mentorship programs.