Effective & Ethical Mentorship in Physics and Astronomy through Grassroots Organizations

TL;DR

This paper discusses how a grassroots organization, Spectrum, enhances mentorship in physics and astronomy to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, thereby improving recruitment and retention of minoritized groups.

Contribution

It introduces a formal mentorship training program for students and faculty, based on current research, to improve mentorship quality and foster DEIA in physics and astronomy.

Findings

Implementation of mentorship training increased mentor confidence.

Training improved trustworthiness of mentorship relationships.

Program can be adopted by other institutions.

Abstract

Effective and ethical mentorship practices are crucial to improving recruitment and retention especially for historically minoritized groups (HMGs). Spectrum is a diversity, inclusion, equity, and accessibility (DEIA) grassroots organization committed to empowering equitable excellence through sustainable change. By improving transparency and DEIA within the fields of physics and astronomy, we can empower the next generation of diverse scientists and increase field retention. Starting within our home department at George Mason University and moving outwards, we ensure our students leave as advocates for DEIA and AJEDI (access, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion) through education and mentorship. Spectrum is providing professionally trained peer mentors to aid students in all facets of their academic and personal lives. Although the peer mentoring program existed since the creation of Spectrum in Spring 2020, we have recently developed and implemented a formal mentorship training for both student and faculty mentors thus increasing the quality, trustworthiness, and confidence of our mentors. Using the latest mentorship research available, this training is developed by Spectrum for George Mason University, with the ability to implement the training at any institution.