HomeBlogRelationships Not Just a Cup of Coffee: Why Mentoring Mattersby Matt WittsteinSeptember 15, 2025 Share: Section NavigationSkip section navigationIn this sectionPodcasts – Home 60-Second SoTL Limed: Teaching with a Twist Making College “Worth It” Special Series First-Year Seminars Land Acknowledgement Limed: Teaching with a TwistSeason 4, Episode 1 In this kickoff to our new season, we explore the heart of mentorship in higher education. Guests Titch Madzima, Sabrina Perkins, and Maureen Vandermass-Peeler share personal stories of the mentors who shaped their paths and reflect on what mentoring really means beyond a casual conversation over coffee. Together, they discuss why mentoring is central to student and faculty success, the challenges institutions face in making it accessible, and why “mentoring constellations” may be the future of more inclusive and supportive academic communities. From authenticity and reciprocity to the barriers of availability and representation, this episode highlights how intentional mentoring can transform both individuals and institutions. View a transcript of this episode. Meet Our Panel Titch Madzima is Associate Professor and Chair of Exercise Science at Elon University. He routinely mentors undergraduate research, has collaborated on multiple diversity and inclusion grant projects to support curricular and co-curricular innovations, and was recognized with the Elon College, the College of Arts & Sciences, Excellence in Teaching award in 2021. His disciplinary research involves investigating the efficacy of exercise and dietary interventions to counteract the physical and psychosocial adverse effects of both cancer and cancer therapies. Sabrina Perkins is Associate Professor of Psychology and the Director of the Infant Development Lab in the Psychology Department at Elon University. Sabrina is an active scholar in developmental psychology and engages in scholarship of teaching, learning, and mentoring in higher education, with a particular focus on students and faculty from marginalized backgrounds. She has mentored undergraduate research (UR) students in securing competitive internal grants, presenting at professional conferences, and working towards their professional goals post-graduation. In 2021, Sabrina co-designed a mentoring program to support first-generation college students at Elon University and has since been involved in its facilitation by leading trainings, programming, events, and assessment. She has presented at regional, national, and international conferences, and published multiple journal articles and book chapters related to teaching and mentoring, including publications with the Journal of First-Generation Student Success and Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology. She served as a Co-Guest Editor for a Special Issue of Perspectives on Undergraduate Research Mentoring (PURM), on Continuity of Mentoring Undergraduate Research in the Face of Uncertainty. From 2022-2025, Sabrina co-led an international, multi-institutional research seminar on Mentoring Meaningful Learning Experiences with Elon University’s Center for Engaged Learning. In 2023, Sabrina’s work was recognized by Elon College, The College of Arts and Sciences, with an Excellence in Teaching Award. Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler is the Director of the Center for Research on Global Engagement (CRGE) and a professor of psychology at Elon University. A developmental psychologist, Maureen studies sociocultural and global contexts of learning, including mentoring relationships in high-impact practices such as undergraduate research and global learning. Maureen is a co-editor of the AAC&U publication Mentored Undergraduate Research in Global Contexts: Integrated High-Impact Practices for Student Success (2024) and the volume Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research (2018). As CRGE director, she facilitates innovative, interdisciplinary, inter-institutional collaborations and research on global engagement. Episode Credits This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by Matt Wittstein in collaboration with Elon University’s Center for Engaged Learning. Center Resources Related to this Episode Mentoring Matters: Supporting Students’ Development of Mentoring Constellations in Higher Education By Jessie L. Moore, Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler, and Tim Peeples Mentoring matters for student success. Mentoring promotes academic, social, personal, cultural, and career-focused learning and development in intentional, sustained, and integrative ways. As a result, mentoring contributes positively to academic outcomes… Salient Practices Following an extensive review of the literature on mentoring undergraduate research, ten salient practices emerged which support effective mentoring of undergraduate researchers. These practices can be used to develop a mentoring pedagogy of high quality. LGBTQ+ Mentoring, Part 2: When LGBTQ+ Identities are Shared In a previous post, we explained the importance of mentoring lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-, and queer (LGBTQ+) students, and considerations for engaged faculty and staff allies as they engage in doing so. This second post of the two-part series will… Mentoring LGBTQ+ Students, Part 1: Considerations for All Mentors For many students, attending a residential college is the first time they have lived away from home. During this time, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-, and queer (LGBTQ+) students may have increased opportunities to explore, and even freedom to be public… Genealogical Legacies: Comparing Academic and Family Influences Recently, I (Sabrina) attended a workshop hosted by our Undergraduate Research Program (URP) on “equity-centered mentoring in undergraduate research.” The workshop was led by Associate Director CJ Fleming and other URP leaders, and focused on applying the “JEDI-B” framework to… Returning to a Constellation Model: Mentor, Mentoring, and The Odyssey As we have articulated, one of the challenges of the traditional mentoring model resides in the being-all-things to another set of assumptions built into it. The traditional mentor is understood as a single person who will be there without fail… 1 2 … 15 16 > Additional Resources and Citations Erikson, Erik H. 1993. Childhood and Society. 2nd ed. W. W. Norton & Company. Great Jobs Great Lives: The 2014 Gallup Purdue Index Report. Gallup. Accessed September 8, 2025. https://www.gallup.com/services/176768/2014-gallup-purdue-index-report.aspx. Hall, Eric E., Helen Walkington, Jenny Olin Shanahan, Elizabeth Ackley, and K. A. Stewart. 2018. “Mentor Perspectives on the Place of Undergraduate Research Mentoring in Academic Identity and Career Development: An Analysis of Award Winning Mentors.” International Journal of Academic Development 23 (1): 15-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2017.1412972. Levinson, Daniel J. 1986. The Seasons of a Man’s Life: The Groundbreaking 10-Year Study That Was the Basis for Passages! Ballantine Books. Levinson, Daniel J. 1996. The Seasons of a Woman’s Life. Ballantine Books. Walkington, Helen, Kearsley A. Stewart, Eric E. Hall, Elizabeth Ackley, and Jenny Olin Shanahan. 2020. “Salient Practices of Award-Winning Undergraduate Research Mentors: Balancing Freedom and Control to Achieve Excellence.” Studies in Higher Education 45 (7): 1519-1532. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075079.2019.1637838.
