The Center for Workforce Development at the University of Washington developed and launched the Faculty and Graduate Student Mentoring Program to provide STEM graduate students from underrepresented groups with personal and career guidance, enhance retention and prepare future STEM faculty. 

Susan Feinberg

Current STEM faculty members serve as mentors. Graduate students and faculty members are matched based on field of study, interests and other preferences. Faculty mentors share their experiences to encourage students’ success in academic careers.

The program is advertised widely to STEM graduate students. New mentees fill out an application that asks about their background and their goals in a mentoring relationship. Using this information, an appropriate mentor is identified for each student. 

“Faculty mentors help students network and get jobs,” says Elizabeth Litzler, director for research at UW’s Center for Workforce Development. “The social support from mentors enhances students’ confidence and self-esteem. They are more likely to stay in the STEM fields and feel better prepared for their careers.” 

Litzler reports that 80-90 percent of participating students are completing their graduate programs. “We work hard to get students into the STEM fields, and we want to do everything we can to keep them there,” she says. 

More than 180 students have participated, and many of them for multiple years. Last year, 41 graduate students and 32 faculty members participated. Approximately 75 percent of the mentees are women and almost one third are international students, with the majority coming from Southeast Asian countries such as China and Thailand.  

Louise Leahy, a 38-year-old doctoral student in UW’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences, has been participating for three years. 

After completing two years of her six-year doctoral program, Leahy decided to investigate the mentoring program. “I was finding it difficult to integrate into the department, especially as an older student,” she says. “I needed some insider information. I was looking for answers and a friendly person to talk to, especially when things weren’t going well.”