Increasing diversity in higher education by examining African-American STEM mentors´ mentoring approaches

National reports and initiatives indicate a critical need to produce more U.S. scientists and engineers and specify plans to fulfill this need by tapping into underrepresented populations such as women and minorities. Thus, it is crucial to address how diversity plays a role in higher education environments and the persistence of these populations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. Mentoring may be a mechanism that assists minority students, such as African Americans, with persisting in STEM majors which may help to increase diversity in higher education. However, there is a lack of understanding about what is occurring in African-American mentoring relationships and how mentors advise their protégés. The purpose of this study is to understand and interpret the mentoring approaches of select African-American STEM mentors in higher education. Ten select African-American STEM mentors were interviewed. Polkinghorne´s narrative analysis and an open coding process were used to identify pervasive themes that emerged about mentors´ mentoring approaches. Findings indicate that African-American STEM mentors employ mentoring approaches with their African-American STEM undergraduates that focus on providing resources and listening and relating to their protégés.