See our full episode notes at https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/can-peer-mentoring-power-equity/

In this episode of Limed: Teaching with a Twist, members of Team Augmentors – Krista Craven (Carleton University), Maggie Safronova (University of California Santa Barbara), Diana Gregory (Kennesaw State University), and Olivia Choplin (Elon University) – share insights from their cross-institutional research on peer mentoring programs.

Through campus scans, surveys, and in-depth interviews with program leaders across multiple campuses, their team explored how peer mentoring supports student success and equity. Their findings suggest that while these programs consistently promote access, belonging, and navigation of the hidden curriculum, the extent to which they are explicitly framed as equity-driven often depends on institutional context and climate.

We discuss the role of peer mentors in demystifying higher education, the importance of training and support, and the challenges of embedding equity and social justice into program design. As the team looks ahead to expanding their framework and studying mentor experiences more deeply, this conversation invites us to rethink mentoring as a shared, relational process that makes opportunity more visible, more accessible, and can involve student partnership at every level.

This episode was hosted and edited by Matt Wittstein, and produced by Matt Wittstein in collaboration with Elon University’s Center for Engaged Learning.

Themes and music composed and produced by Kai Mitchell, Elon University Music Production and Recording Arts class of 2024. Kai produces music and releases it across streaming platforms with the producer’s name KVI. You can follow Kai on Instagram @theofficial_kvi.

Show art was created by Jennie Goforth, Nolan Schultheis, and Matt Wittstein.

The Center for Engaged Learning uses Rev to create transcripts for each episode.