Limed: Teaching with a Twist

Season 4, Episode 8

What makes mentoring relationships truly effective…and for whom? 

In this episode, Karina Hamamouche (Butler University), Hannah Bellwoar (Juniata College), Yujie Huang (Old Dominion University), and Nira Rahman (University of Melbourne), members of a multi-institutional research group from the Center for Engaged Learning’s research seminar on Mentoring Meaning Learning Experiences, draw on their three-year study of mentoring in higher education and help us explore how identity, partnership, and cultural context shape mentoring relationships and students’ sense of belonging. 

Through surveys and focus groups, their research reveals both expected and surprising findings: while shared identity can play an important role in mentoring relationships, differences are often intentionally sought to support growth. They also uncover key disconnects between how mentors and mentees understand what matters most – a highlighting the central role of reciprocity, mutual respect, and shared responsibility. 

Ultimately, this episode invites listeners to rethink mentoring not as a hierarchical structure, but as a human-centered, relational process – one that requires authenticity, negotiation, and attention to both individual and systemic dynamics. The group closes by considering future directions for mentoring scholarship, including cross-cultural approaches and more nuanced explorations of identity and belonging. 

View a transcript of this episode.

Meet our Panel

Hannah Bellwoar is Professor of English, Director of Writing, and Co-Director of the Writing and Speech Center at Juniata College. In these roles over the last 15 years, she teaches a variety of courses in professional, creative, digital, and academic writing. She also leads the professional and creative writing and first year writing program, working with faculty, peer tutors, and students across the college to support student learning in writing. She has researched how laypeople compose and use health-related text to navigate healthcare systems, mentoring undergraduate research in the field of writing studies, and most recently how identity impacts sense of belonging in mentoring relationships. She has co-authored four publications with five of her undergraduate students, including research on knitting and community, ethical choices in video games, and composing research through digital writing. She has also served for six years on the Executive Board of the Small Liberal Arts College Writing Program Administrators, currently in year two of a three-year term as President. She earned her BA in English from Temple University, and her MA and PhD in English with a concentration in Writing Studies from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. 

Karina Hamamouche is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Butler University. At Butler, Dr. Hamamouche teaches a range of courses, including Child Psychology, Lifespan Development, and Research Methods and Statistics. Her passion for mentoring transcends beyond the classroom. She loves collaborating with undergraduate researchers to investigate children’s developing sense of time and number and she participates in Butler’s Faculty in Residence program, where she resides with her family in a campus dorm.  From 2023-2025, Dr. Hamamouche participated in a research seminar on meaningful mentorship through Elon University’s Center for Engaged Learning, which further cultivated her research interest in mentoring in undergraduate settings.   

Yujie Huang is the Associate Director of Assessment at Old Dominion University. Her research interests focus on mentoring, teaching practices, and professional development in higher education. Yujie earned her PhD from Purdue University, where she engaged in mentoring programs and initiatives and developed her research interest around mentoring practices that promote student learning and foster professional and academic success. Prior to her current role at ODU, her work centered on faculty development—specifically, designing and implementing programs that equip faculty, graduate students, and postdocs with knowledge and skills to teach effectively in college classrooms. She continues to expand her research agenda at the intersection of mentoring, teaching, and professional development, with a focus on preparing future faculty in higher education.  

Nira Rahman is an academic specialising in Educational Design and Student Engagement at Arts Teaching Innovation, Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne. Her teaching and research are grounded in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), through which she examines identity, positionality, and partnership pedagogy in higher education, with a focus on equity, belonging, and culturally responsive practice. A Senior Fellow of HERDSA, she is Founding Chair of the T&L in HASS SIG and serves as Associate Editor for Teaching and Learning Inquiry.  As a visiting scholar and invited speaker at various universities worldwide, and through many international research collaborations, she brings identity and positionality to the forefront of pedagogical inquiry, contributing globally to SoTL conversations on co-creation, inclusive teaching, and transformative student–staff partnerships. 

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 and Matt Wittstein. Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash. 

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

Related Resources

Center Resources Related to this Episode

Felten, Peter, and Ketevan Kupatadze. 2026. Students as Partners. Center for Engaged Learning at Elon University. https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/resources/students-as-partners/

Suggested Reading from the Guests

Cook-Sather, Alison, Catherine Bovill, and Peter Felten. 2014. Engaging Students as Partners in Learning and Teaching: A Guide for Faculty. John Wiley & Sons. 

Duckworth, Sylvia. 2020, Oct 18. “Wheel of Power/Privilege” [Infographic]. Flickr. https://flic.kr/p/2jWxeGG. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.