“Mentoring the Mentors” is a workshop that the APA has hosted at various divisional meetings over the last four years thanks to funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This workshop – which any philosophy department or conference may now recreate with the recently released “Mentoring the Mentors” Workshop Toolkit – aims to support and train mentors of undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds in philosophy. The same grant also supports undergraduate diversity institutes in philosophy, which are summer programs for undergraduate students from underrepresented groups interested in pursuing further study in philosophy. Both “Mentoring the Mentors” and the various undergraduate summer diversity institutes identify the lack of representation of philosophy students who are women, people of color, LGBTQ+ identifying individuals, individuals with disabilities and first generation college students.
The workshop recognizes that to take on the challenging journey of studying philosophy professionally, a student needs a mentor and that mentor needs to know how to best support their student. The workshop is for mentors who wish to hone their skills and who believe there is always more to learn. An attendee of the 2019 “Mentoring the Mentors” workshop, Allison Krile Thornton, expresses this mentality, “Mentoring in general (not just in diversity institutes) is actually very complicated. There’s not a one-size-fits-all model for it, and my intuitions about what’s needed are pretty poor given my privileged background. So I think it’s something I should approach as an apprentice; I have a lot to learn from my students and from successful mentors.”Mentors should be aware of how culture, educational opportunity, and identity can influence a student at each step along the path of philosophical study, both for reasons specific to academia and for reasons specific to philosophy.
I had the privilege of planning and being present at the “Mentoring the Mentors” workshop that occurred at the 2019 APA Central Division Meeting in Denver, CO, alongside workshop facilitator Professor Mitzi Lee of CU Boulder. During the workshop, I witnessed and participated in conversations about some of the challenges that underrepresented philosophers and students face in academia. Some of these challenges include imposter syndrome and stereotype threat, subtle and blatant discrimination, and further feelings of alienation due to a lack of diverse voices in the canon of philosophy. When students carry these challenges into the long and competitive journey of pursuing academic philosophy, it is incredibly important for them to have a well-trained support system. An attendee of the 2019 workshop, Sahar Joakim, explains, “In part because generic universal advice does not exist, the best (meaningful, efficient) mentoring goes to those students whose goals, struggles, schedules, dreams, etc., are known; the best mentors, therefore, are those who take the time to first know their mentee.” A good mentor will tailor their support to their mentee — but this takes practice.
Each version of the workshop and the corresponding toolkit divide the day into several modules, some of which focus on how to provide psychosocial support and culturally competent advice to young philosophers. The schedule combines reflection and reading based discussions, open time for sharing and brainstorming, as well as panel and speaker presentations. One portion of the workshop dives into the logistics of supporting students in preparing graduate school application materials, and most workshops carve out a session on diversity institute resources and leadership.
The 2019 “Mentoring the Mentors” workshop in Denver featured a panel of admissions committee members from popular graduate programs in philosophy. The workshop toolkit also offers written contributions from seven different graduate admissions committee members, with advice about what to include in a personal statement, how to approach asking for letters of recommendation, etc. We emphasize in the workshop toolkit that every graduate program is unique — and most are highly competitive — so assisting students in finding a program that fits is important, as is trying again during the next application cycle if the student does not find a match.
During the 2019 workshop, attendees discussed how to encourage passionate students to pursue philosophy while also being frank about financial constraints. Attendees posed challenging questions to each other, such as, “How do I let my young student of color know that there is a place for her voice in philosophy, when every philosopher she read in her introductory class was a white man?” Or, “What do I say to my student who desperately wants to be a philosopher, but who does not yet have a knack for philosophical writing?” The discussions and advice that rose out of these questions were the most fruitful aspects of the workshop, in my opinion, because they allowed attendees to think of their own responses and solutions in real time. The responses that stood out to me were reassuring anecdotes from one attendee to another that contained both practical tips and broadly applicable wisdom.
Before and during the workshop, participants compiled a list of tips for mentorship of underrepresented students in philosophy. Some of these tips apply to mentorship in general, and others are specific to the experiences of attendees of the 2019 workshop. The full list is available in the workshop toolkit, but I have included a few here:
Mentors should strive to make active invitations where a mentee may accept an offer, as opposed to passive options where the mentee must always ask for help from the mentor. This may sound like, “Are you available to meet on Wednesday at 4:00pm?” as opposed to, “Email me if you ever want to schedule a meeting.”
Mentors should encourage students to pursue their philosophical interests, develop their ideas, share them, and get feedback. Mentors should encourage promising students to speak up in class, and to share their ideas and work by saying things like, “You and your classmates will benefit from you talking and sharing your ideas in class.”
Expressing enthusiasm such as, “It is great to hear from you!” when mentees reach out can do a lot to quell anxiety that many students feel in asking for help.
Not all students have had positive experiences in meeting one-on-one with authority figures. A meeting in an office may be intimidating, reminding students of past experiences when they felt like they were “in trouble.”
A good mentor will encourage students to find role models and to seek like-minded communities. Mentors should introduce mentees to other faculty members, graduate students, and undergraduates with whom they might have common interests or concerns.
The 2019 workshop in Denver provided a space for attendees to share the complexity of their experiences and ask for feedback from others who may have faced similar challenges being a mentor. It also proved to be incredibly valuable as a networking opportunity and space for organizers of the various diversity institutes to strategize best practices. One of those organizers, Marion Boulicault, says, “Having worked as a mentor and as a diversity institute organizer for years, this was the first time that I had the chance to sit down with other mentors for a full day and focus on the skills, challenges (and joys!) of mentorship. I left the workshop feeling rejuvenated and supported, and with many new friendships, ideas and strategies for moving forward in my mentorship roles.”
I am proud of the work we did at the 2019 workshop and in the workshop toolkit, and I am reassured by the existence of a growing community of workshop alumni who now have a set of complex mentoring tools in their pockets. If more philosophy departments and conferences offer a space for conversation about mentoring diverse students in philosophy, those who find themselves in the crucial role of mentor will be better able to support each other and their mentees. The broader hope for this program is that well-trained mentors and promising young philosophers come together so that more women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, individuals with disabilities and first generation college students go on to successfully study and diversify philosophy.
Lucy Pawliczek
Lucy Pawliczek is a Program Assistant at the APA national office in Delaware, where she works on projects related to a diversity grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Lucy graduated from Boston College in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. She also works as the Kitchen Coordinator at Chaddsford Winery in Pennsylvania.
