Limed: Teaching with a Twist

Season 4, Episode 6

In this episode, host Matt Wittstein joins fellow researchers Jenn Aumiller (University of Maryland School of Medicine), Sarah Burns Gilchrist (American University), and Alexis Hart (Allegheny College) to discuss their collaborative research on mentorship as a constellation of relationships rather than a single dyad. Sparked by shared questions about student support, belonging, and engagement, the team explores how students understand and navigate networks of meaningful, supportive, and mentoring relationships across academic and personal contexts. 

Drawing on survey data, interviews, and an interactive constellation mapping process, the conversation highlights how visualizing mentorship networks can prompt reflection, surface gaps, and challenge assumptions about who “counts” as a mentor. The group reflects on key findings, including students’ realization that they themselves act as mentors, the importance of relationships beyond formal academic roles, and how mentoring needs shift over time. The episode closes with discussion of how constellation mapping might be adapted for professional development, faculty mentoring, and other non-student settings. 

View a transcript of this episode.

Meet Our Panel

Jennifer Aumiller is the Director of Graduate and Postdoctoral Training and Advancement at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. At the University of Maryland, Dr. Aumiller heads up career development initiatives for graduate and postdoctoral scholars in biomedical sciences, leads mentoring workshops based on the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER) for faculty, students, and postdoctoral fellows, is the administrative lead for the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s Center for the Integration of Research Teaching and Learning (CIRTL), and leads the Office of Postdoctoral Scholars. In addition to this, she collaborates with several researchers in mentoring research.  From 2023-2025, Dr. Aumiller participated in the Elon University Center for Engaged Learning’s 2023-2025 research seminar on Mentoring Meaningful Learning Experiences, which deepened her interest in mentoring research. 

Sarah Burns Gilchrist is an Associate Librarian for Public Affairs and International Service graduate students at American University in Washington, DC. Her work at American University Library includes classes focused on Information Literacy, Digital Literacy, and the research process. Ms. Gilchrist is working on a doctorate in Information and Interaction Design at the University of Baltimore; finished her Masters in Library Science at Indiana University, Indianapolis; and completed undergraduate degrees in Comparative Literature and in Slavic Languages and Literature at Indiana University, Bloomington. Her current areas of research include librarians as mentors, inclusive dialogue, and evaluation of embedded Artificial Intelligence tools. Ms. Gilchrist participated in the Elon University Center for Engaged Learning’s 2023-2025 research seminar on Mentoring Meaningful Learning Experiences with team Interstellar.  

Alexis Hart, Chair and Professor of English and Director of Writing at Allegheny College, was a participant in the Elon University Center for Engaged Learning’s 2023-2025 Research Seminar on Mentoring Meaningful Learning Experiences and is the editor of How to Start an Undergraduate Research Journal (CUR, 2012). Hart and her co-author Roger Thompson were co-recipients of the 2017 Braddock Award for the outstanding article on writing or the teaching of writing published in College Composition and Communication for “Veterans in the Writing Classroom: Three Programmatic Approaches to Facilitate the Transition from the Military to Higher Education.” Hart and Thompson’s co-authored book Writing Programs, Veteran Studies, and the Post-9/11 University: A Field Guide was published in 2020. Hart’s work has also appeared in Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research Journal (SPUR), CUR Quarterly, Pedagogy, Composition Forum, and several edited collections, including The Naylor Report on Undergraduate Research in Writing Studies, Writing Beyond the University: Preparing Lifelong Learners for Lifewide Writing, and Writing Centers and Learning Commons.  

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. ChatGPT 5.1 was used to generate the background image, with an initial prompt of “I’d like to create episode artwork for an episode titled Mapping Mentorship. I’m thinking something like an old style constellation chart.” Prompts for revision included, “Let’s try a concept that shows someone trying to chart the stars,” and finally, “Take the people out of it, and let’s just see a cartographic map of the stars and constellations.” 

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

Additional Resources and Citations

From the Center for Engaged Learning

Center for Engaged Learning. High Impact Educational Practices Archives. Accessed February 10, 2026. https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/videos/category/hips/. 

Center for Engaged Learning. Mentoring Matters: Supporting Students’ Development of Mentoring Constellations in Higher Education. Accessed February 10, 2026. https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/mentoring-matters/. 

Peeples, Tim, Jessie L. Moore, and Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler. 2024. “Relationship-Rich Mentoring Map.” Mentoring Matters: Supporting Students’ Development of Mentoring Constellations in Higher Education. Center for Engaged Learning. https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/mentoring-matters/relationship-rich-mentoring-map. 

Additional Resources and Citations 

Byars-Winston, A., & Dahlberg, M. L. (Eds.). 2019. The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM. National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25568  

Kuh, George D., and Carol Geary Schneider. 2008. High-impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.