Mentorship and the Professional Development of Culturally Responsive Evaluators in the American Evaluation Association's Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) Program

Abstract

In this study, we used Q methodology to investigate perspectives on mentorship among alumni of the Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) program. We asked participants to think retrospectively and give their opinion on the most important characteristics a GEDI mentor should have, based on what they would have liked or needed when they participated in the GEDI program. Three different perspectives on mentoring emerged from participants. They show that mentoring is not unidimensional; that perceptions and expectations of mentoring are defined to a great extent by the professional needs, background, and expectation of the participants. We suggest that the program takes those needs and expectations into consideration and use them as criteria for selecting mentors.