The Wiley International Handbook of Mentoring

29Mentoring Across Race, Gender, and Generation in Higher Education: A Cross‐Cultural Analysis

Frances Kochan¹ and Sydney Freeman Jr.²

¹ Auburn University, USA

² University of Idaho, USA

Mentoring has been identified as a valuable tool for enhancing personal and professional growth for both the mentor and the mentee (Maldonado, Quarles, Lacey, & Thompson, 2002). It has been viewed as particularly useful in supporting doctoral students to complete their program of studies (Chun‐Mei, Folde, & McCormick, 2007; Freeman, 2014). Freeman (2014) noted the importance of such mentoring in socializing first generation students in higher education so that they can become more aware of the educational and career options available to them.

Such mentoring relationships appear to be particularly important for Black students in higher education since they have the highest attrition rate among ethnic minorities (Cook & Cordova, 2006). However, it is sometimes difficult for minority students in the United States to find a mentor, particularly one from their same cultural background, because minorities are not well represented in the faculty of most higher education institutions (Barker, 2011). For this reason, Barker (2011) suggested that it is important for minority students to be open to cross‐cultural mentoring.

Even when minority students are open to working across cultural lines, it is vital to understand that cross‐cultural mentoring relationships are closely related to and impacted by ...