November 15, 2022Mentoring for Learner Success: Multiple Pathways to Mentoring Relationships by Jessie L. Moore and Maureen Vandermaas-PeelerMentoring relationships develop in relationship-rich environments (Vandermaas-Peeler and Moore 2022). In higher education contexts, they might evolve from other meaningful relationships like teaching, advising, supervising, and coaching, but they require time to become more reciprocal and mutually beneficial (Mullen and…
August 12, 2022Mentoring for Learner Success: Mentoring is not (just) having a cup of coffee, part 3by Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler, Cynthia Fair, and Caroline KetchamIn part 1 of this blog series, we introduced mentoring as more than (just) having a cup of coffee, and in part 2, we shared snapshots from our own experiences with mentoring relationships. In this final post in the series,…
August 10, 2022Mentoring for Learner Success: Mentoring is not (just) having a cup of coffee, part 2by Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler, Cynthia Fair, and Caroline KetchamIn Part 1 of this blog series, we described mentoring as situated in a larger sociocultural context and understood holistically and longitudinally, rather than as a snapshot of a meaningful moment (e.g., having a cup of coffee). In this post,…
August 8, 2022Mentoring for Learner Success: Mentoring is not (just) having a cup of coffee, part 1by Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler, Cynthia Fair, and Caroline KetchamWhat comes to mind when you hear the word mentor? What images and emotions are evoked by the term mentoring? Acknowledging that the concept of mentoring has become ubiquitous, not only in higher education but also in popular culture and…
April 6, 2022Mentoring for Learner Success: Defining Mentoring Relationshipsby Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler and Jessie L. MooreIn 2020, Elon University became one of ten institutions in the inaugural cohort of the American Council on Education (ACE) inclusive learning community called the Learner Success Lab (LSL), with an institutional focus on Mentoring for Learner Success. Elon’s 2030…
September 2, 2021Mentoring for Learner Success: Developmental Mentoring Relationshipsby Maureen Vandermaas-PeelerI have a few [mentors] that have just been absolutely phenomenal. I would say that mentoring has been the cornerstone of my Elon experience. I didn’t expect that when I came in, but I have been absolutely overjoyed with the…
March 30, 2021Mentoring for Learner Success: Bridging Known and Newby Maureen Vandermaas-PeelerIn order to enhance young children’s learning in the course of everyday interactions, parents often facilitate the acquisition of new knowledge by bridging, or establishing a connection between something familiar and something new (Vandermaas-Peeler, Westerberg, and Fleishman 2019). In a…
February 18, 2021Mentoring for Learner Success: Conceptualizing Constellationsby Maureen Vandermaas-PeelerIn their recent book, Relationship-Rich Education, Elon colleagues Drs. Peter Felten and Leo Lambert weave together dozens of stories emphasizing the importance of meaningful connections for successful learning and well-being in higher education. Drawing on hundreds of interviews, they offer extensive evidence of the power of relationships between learners and peers, staff, and faculty, asserting that all students should “create webs…
September 22, 2015Mentoring Relationships in Undergraduate Researchby Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler and Caroline KetchamIn the second summer of the CEL seminar on Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research (UR), participants worked to identify the key characteristics of mentoring relationships in the context of student, faculty and institutional development. We identified factors that contribute to…
February 17, 2015Diverse Contexts of Mentoringby Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler In the recent AAC&U symposium entitled, America’s Global Future: Are College Students Prepared?, presenters and participants grappled with such difficult questions as “What do our students need from their college studies to contribute and thrive in a 21st-century…