Abstract Mentorship models in higher education are multifaceted in practice. A typical mentoring relationship is often a dyad or triad between a mentee and a mentor or two mentors. The mentors can be peers, faculty, staff, alumni, industry partners, or professional mentors. Studies have observed promising mentoring with mentorship structures that synergistically pair a mentor with a mentee with similar commonality. The mentees' self-efficacy improved, and their STEM identities were positively impacted. This work-in-progress study aims to investigate the impact of mentorship structures on first-year women engineering students. A holistic student support approach has been established, employing a mentorship triad structure with hierarchical mentors to bring about a mentee's full potential. This mentoring strategy involves pairing first-year women students with women peer mentors, faculty, and industry mentors. The pairing is done based on identities documented in a demographics survey. Mentees have the autonomy to interact with their three-tier mentors throughout the semester for support on academics, careers, and professional development. As the mentees navigate through their first two years in college, the measurable outcome includes assessments of the revised Bandura's General Academic Self-Efficacy (GASE) instrument and Tinto's theoretical framework, the Sense of Belonging instrument (SOB) to evaluate their self-efficacy and sense of belonging as they progress academically. At the same time, the mentors go through comprehensive training that involves workshops, modules, and a mentoring reflection instrument. The established mentoring relationships are anticipated to improve students' self-efficacy and correlate with their academic performance and sense of belonging.
Olukemi Akintewe (Thu,) studied this question.