Advancing Inclusive Mentoring (AIM)

A Mentor Training Program Tailored for Faculty Members of Undergraduate Researchers

The  AIM program, is a mentor training program developed at California State University Long Beach as part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) Initiative. Called “Beach Mentor” at the CSULB campus, the AIM program has trained over 150 mentors in our effective and engaging program. The overarching goals of AIM are to provide a variety of engaging faculty training resources to promote student success through positive and inclusive mentoring. Because student involvement in high impact practices such as research, scholarly, and creative activities boost student success – particularly when associated with strong mentorship, learning the best practices for mentoring is a critical component of facilitating student success. The AIM Program works towards that goal by providing a hybrid program: 35 videos across six learning modules are accompanied by six synchronous discussions to build a community of practice around mentoring on your campus. AIM provides videos featuring faculty and staff members from around the CSULB campus who share tips and ideas on best practices in mentoring, along with re-enactments (actors and animation scenes) of student/professor scenarios that are based on real mentoring stories collected from the CSULB campus community. The AIM modules are structured to meet key learning outcomes and include: Communicating with your Mentee; Inclusive Mentoring; Cultivating Mentee Growth & Development; Facilitating Mentee Health & Wellbeing; Mentee-Centered Mentoring; and a Mentoring Toolbox. These modules not only cover critical topics such as social justice mentoring and issues of equity, combating discrimination and culturally aware mentoring, they also help to define the broad role(s) of an undergraduate mentor. In addition to the videos, AIM ‘Top Tips’ handouts for each of the 35 episodes are provided to participants, along with additional outside resources. Following completion of the self-paced six module quizzes that follow the video episodes, members earn a certificate of completion for the six-hour Beach Mentor program. A Leader’s Manual has been created to encourage sharing of experiences and expertise within the discussion group. The manual provides group activities, discussion prompts, and session notes for these facilitated discussions. The AIM Program shares key mentoring practices that, when used by faculty mentors on campus, can help students feel welcomed, empowered, supported- and geared for success!

If you are CSULB faculty and you’d like more information about the Beach Mentor/AIM program, please visit the CSULB's Faculty Center's Beach Mentor page. If you are part of the CSU system and would like information on how to bring AIM to your campus, please contact kelly.young@csulb.edu for train-the-facilitator sessions. Regardless of your campus, everyone is welcome to complete AIM and other mentor training programs through the courses offered by the National Research Mentoring Network.

AIM Publications:

Young, K., Esquerra, R., Munoz, N., Lacy, S., Lehr, J., Marayong, P., & Vu, K. Advancing inclusive mentoring: An effective mentor training program across comprehensive and R2 public universities. The Chronicle of Mentoring & Coaching, 8(1), 58-71, 2024. https://doi.org/10.62935/pn6229 

Young KA, Marayong P, Vu K-PL. Faculty Mentor Training at a Diverse R2 University Changes Mentoring Practices and Increases Mentoring Skill Confidence. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 33, 105-132, 2022. Young et al., 2022

Young KA, Finney MA, Marayong P, & Vu K-PL. Advancing Inclusive Mentoring Through an Online Mentor Training Program and Coordinated Discussion Group. In: Yamamoto S., Mori H. (eds) Human Interface and the Management of Information. Information-Rich and Intelligent Environments (pp. 177-194). HCII 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 12766. Springer, Cham., 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78361-7_14

See the complete listing of AIM Modules below :

  • 1.1  Non-verbal communication
  • 1.2  Favoritism
  • 1.3  Constructive criticism
  • 1.4  Professional communication limits
  • 1.5  Virtual mentoring
  • 1.6  Power differential
  • 1.7  Communicating across differences
  • 1.8  Active listening
  • 1.9  Communication personalities

  • 2.1 Why equity and inclusion matter
  • 2.2 Understanding privilege
  • 2.3 Unconscious bias
  • 2.4 Managing microaggressions
  • 2.5 Confronting discrimination
  • 2.6 Culturally aware mentoring

  • 3.1 Supporting professional development
  • 3.2 Establishing a professional identity in your mentees
  • 3.3 Promoting effective mentee time management
  • 3.4 Mentoring professional communication
  • 3.5 Balancing mentee independence with guidance

  • 4.1 Establishing trust and building confidence in your mentees
  • 4.2 Surviving challenging conversations with your mentees
  • 4.3 Modeling and promoting work life balance
  • 4.4 Recognizing signs of depression and anxiety in your mentees
  • 4.5 Ethical mentoring

  • 5.1 Expectation management
  • 5.2 Social justice mentoring
  • 5.3 Comprehension check-ins
  • 5.4 Avoiding mentoring meltdowns
  • 5.5 Transitions in mentoring

  • 6.1 Mentoring Frames
  • 6.2 Documenting your mentoring
  • 6.3 Assessing your mentees and your own mentoring
  • 6.4 Mentoring myths
  • 6.5 Sustaining your Mentoring