Can Peer Mentoring Power Equity?

Limed: Teaching with a Twist

Season 4, Episode 8

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.

View a transcript of this episode.

Meet our Panel

Olivia Choplin is Professor of French in the Department of World Languages and Cultures and former Associate Director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning at Elon University. Her disciplinary research focuses on contemporary French and Francophone literature, with particular attention to Québec and the Caribbean diaspora. She is deeply engaged in teaching and learning, with interests in intercultural development, students-as-partners approaches, and the design of inclusive and reflective learning environments. At Elon, Olivia has contributed to institutional efforts to build sustainable mentoring structures through her work on the Mentoring Design Team, a cross-campus initiative focused on expanding access to high-quality mentoring for students, faculty, and staff. Her work bridges disciplinary scholarship, faculty development, and applied research on mentoring and student success.

Krista Craven is an Equity and Inclusion Learning Specialist at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. In this role, Krista supports faculty members, contract instructors, TAs, and staff in creating more inclusive, equitable, and anti-oppressive learning environments. Previous to her role at Carleton, Krista was an Associate Professor of Community and Justice Studies at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina where she collaborated closely with undergraduate students to co-design and co-teach courses and/or engage in participatory research projects around anti-oppressive/liberatory principles and practices in higher education spaces. Krista’s scholarly work spans topics including equitable educational environments, immigrant and refugee rights, and community-driven knowledge creation, with numerous peer-reviewed publications and national conference presentations co-authored with students and community partners. Krista is committed to collaboratively building institutional cultures that foster belonging, equity, and transformative learning.

Diana Gregory, KSU Professor of Art Education, is an artist/researcher/teacher and her research includes the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), creativity in the 21st century, creativity in studio art/art education, and mandalas for art and healing. Her recent publications include: “Designing a Master of Art and Design: Student-staff reflections on first-year experiences as a process” (2022), “SoTL in the Margins: Teaching-Focused Role Case Study” (2021), “The Impact of Continual Reflection: Students as Partners: Becoming a/r/tographers” (2021). In 2023, she received the Felton Jenkins, Jr. Hall of Fame Award and the USG Regents’ SoTL Award, and in 2025 the Geer College of Arts Outstanding Teacher Award.

Dr. Maggie Safronova is the Associate Director of the Office of Teaching and Learning at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Her work explores the intersection of student academic and social experiences, and engagement with pedagogical innovations in fostering students’ sense of belonging within research-intensive institutions. Most recently, Dr. Safronova has been involved in developing and implementing programs that facilitate near-peer learning practices. She supports faculty development and teaching innovation by co-facilitating professional workshops, including sessions on implementing inclusive teaching strategies such as structured peer feedback in large introductory courses. Dr. Safronova is the co-author of “Practice what you teach: Trust and asset-based practices as the foundation of professional collaboration at a large university” (2025) in the International Journal of Academic Development. Her publications also include “Sense of Place and Belonging: Lessons from the Pandemic” (2022) in Teaching and Learning Inquiry, and “Guiding Students Towards Disciplinary Knowledge With Structured Peer Review Assignments” (2021) in the Journal of Higher Education Theory & Practice.

Episode Credits

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.

Additional Resources and Citations

Center Resources Related to this Episode

Center for Engaged Learning. Mentoring Matters: Supporting Students’ Development of Mentoring Constellations in Higher Education. Accessed March 9, 2026. https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/mentoring-matters/.

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