Future faculty development case study: A personal perspective of an informal peer-to-peer minority mentorship network

As shown by research, mentorship can play an important role in the career development of future minority faculty in general and science and engineering faculty in particular. At a Midwest research university, an informal peer-to-peer mentorship network was formed among four African American females and two African American males, spanning three engineering disciplines and computer science as they began to pursue careers in academia. The group's discussions provided for greater knowledge accumulation as each member shared advice gained from talks with advisors and formal mentors, participation in future faculty development programs, and reading of literature. Members offered to one another critiques of application materials, practice interviews and abundant amounts of support and encouragement. The network allowed for a comfortable environment for questions ranging from the simple, such as, "what is the difference between a CV and a resume" to the complex, such as, "is a post doctoral fellowship really necessary?" In this paper the author, a member of the group, will relate her experiences as she applied for post-doctoral fellowships. The author's personal reflections and reflections gained from semi-structured interviews of her peers will be discussed in terms of mentorship, career development and diversity.