Postdoctoral Scholars of Color and Their Perceptions of Equity-Minded Mentoring Practices

Postdoctoral positions have become prominent as a next step for aspiring tenure-track faculty members. Postdoctoral positions provide postdocs with opportunities to become independent researchers, including leading large, grant-funded research projects, publishing, and writing grant proposals. However, postdocs of color often encounter challenges accessing quality mentorship. Thus, we designed this study to understand the mentoring practices postdocs of color perceived as equitable and ethical. We applied Griffin’s equityminded mentoring model to analyze interview data from 15 faculty members of color who had postdoctoral positions before becoming tenure-track faculty. We found that when postdocs of color perceived their supervisors as collegial and trusting, they described their postdoctoral experiences as equitable and ethical as they prepare for tenure-track faculty careers. Equity-minded mentoring seemed to facilitate developmental relationships, considering the racialized and gendered dynamics that postdocs of color could encounter as tenure-track faculty members. Our findings suggest that administrative leaders, faculty, and postdoctoral program offices could transform postdoctoral training to be more equitable and ethical, specifically for postdocs of color.