Faculty Research: Diverse leaders bloom with mentorship in graduate school

Nationally, leadership in our PK-12 schools and university communication sciences and disorders programs have a common problem: lack of diversity. Counteracting this phenomenon and developing strategies that encourage people from different backgrounds and perspectives to enter into these critical fields is on the minds of university faculty across the country.

Dr. Sarah Tanner-Anderson '02, MA '07, assistant dean of the College of Graduate and Professional Studies, and Dr. Ronda Walker explore the topic in research published in a recent edition of the scholarly journal Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning.

Their research, titled “Recruiting, retaining, and supporting graduate students of color in PWI [predominantly white institution] education and human services programs,” explores the effectiveness of different strategies in growing and supporting a diverse population in rural graduate schools.

“It starts with recruiting and how you market your program,” said Walker. “Peer mentorship and constant check-ins are very important in helping these individuals not feel so alone— because graduate school is tough. Speaking from experience, people from a minoritized background— especially if there are only one or two others in their graduate program— can have feelings of doubt and anxiety. A strong mentorship program can really make a difference.”

In the case of educational leadership, our school systems benefit when there is a talented, diverse pool of leaders equipped to fill influential roles in K-12 systems.

“We really started to uncover the importance of mentoring and how making a good-faith, strongly built relationship with people made such a difference in our alumni,” said Tanner-Anderson. “At Longwood we are trying to show diverse graduate students in marketing materials so prospective students see that they do belong, that they can jump in and conduct research. One early engagement piece for new students is visiting Moton [Museum], and so many of them see that, as educational leaders, they can be change agents in their own communities.”