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By Amy Topkok, Reporting and Outreach Coordinator
For the second year in a row, University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) BLaST Associate Director and Lead Research Advising and Mentoring Professional (RAMP) Lori Gildehaus led mentee and mentor workshops with fellow RAMP Kaitlyn Haskie of Diné College, and Amy Topkok, BLaST Reporting and Outreach Coordinator. The two virtual mentoring workshops were held on Oct. 26, 2021. The workshops were for graduate student mentors at the University of Arizona, and their scholar mentees who are undergraduate students at Diné College. They all are part of the Bridge to STEAM program at the University of Arizona’s Research, Innovation & Impact (RII), research services. Diné College is a partner institution with the BLaST program, and, as a public tribal college, serves many Indigenous students.
Haskie and Topkok are Indigenous scholars who have trekked through the academic ladder of success at their own institutions and given their perspectives on different issues of mentorship. Haskie, who is also a URBrain Project Manager at Diné College, offered perspectives about how Indigenous scholars have to navigate more levels of communication when entering into institutions and labs. Topkok also gave her perspective on Alaska Native cultural differences in communication, especially about adjusting to a larger community and campus life.
The workshops focused on elements of effective mentoring, which included:
how to find a good fit in mentee/mentor relationships communication skills and challenges
expectations and goal-setting
self-advocacy
how to embrace and navigate differences in mentoring relationships.
The workshops were an opportunity to share guidance and to reflect through discussion as the undergraduates enter their new mentoring relationships.
For more information on the speakers and organizations involved:
Lori Gildehaus: https://blastak.com/ramps/ Kaitlyn Haskie: https://www.dinecollege.edu/academics/urbrain/ Amy Topkok: https://blastak.com/administration/ and https://magazine.firstalaskans.org/issue/fall-2020/bridging-alaskas-digital-divide/ U of AZ Research, Innovation and Impacts: https://research.arizona.edu/research-services
