Developing caring connections: mentorship in the academic setting

The mentoring connections that we have experienced in our school of nursing have eased difficult situations and have promoted self-awareness, personal and professional growth, and leadership behaviors. Various circumstances result in behaviors reflective of issues of culture, race, self-esteem and knowledge, values, ethics, experience, and conflict management. Some of these issues are related to oppressed group behavior, inadequate communication and conflict resolution skills, lack of exposure to diverse academic and professional experiences, and a need to learn management of feelings in effective ways. As faculty, administrators, students, and alumni, we struggle with those issues, knowing that resolution of them is beyond the traditional modes of teaching-learning, academic relationships and professional socialization. We wish that we and our students and alumni will experience an increased connectedness to the school and profession. We also wish that we might, as a result of our mentor connections, individually and collectively develop self-determination, self-esteem and confidence, leadership skills, and inner directness. The Mentor Connection Program was initiated in response to these strong wishes and has been a motivating framework for the reciprocal growth in us all. As for the future, we will continue our research and evaluation studies, refine the matching criteria, support and expand the mentoring dyads, strengthen faculty-faculty mentoring relationships, and seek funding resources for expansion and research. We are seeing the positive effects of active mentoring on students, faculty, and alumni on issues related to teaching and learning, support, hardiness, and self-reflection. Mentors produce leaders. Nursing's collective leadership will, we believe, depend to a large extent on our mentoring relationships with each other.