Mending the Leaky Academic Pipeline through the Mentoring of Historically Marginalized Undergraduates in Anthropology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "From the Lab to the Field: Pioneering Approaches to Undergraduate Mentoring in Archaeology" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

At every stage along the academic pipeline, mentoring is crucial for the success of minoritized scholars. While the number of mentoring initiatives focused on graduate students and early career faculty is growing, less focus has been placed on earlier intervention - at the undergraduate level - which is critically important to recruiting and retaining diverse scholars. The Anthropology Undergraduate-Graduate Mentoring Program (AUGMENT), launched by graduate students at the University of Michigan, seeks to address this gap. AUGMENT pairs underrepresented undergraduates interested in Anthropology with graduate student mentors who share similar interests, experiences, or backgrounds. This early mentorship helps students navigate both university life and the field of Anthropology. Now in its fifth year, AUGMENT has involved over 130 undergraduate mentees and 72 graduate student mentors. The program’s diverse undergraduate participants are primarily Anthropology majors aspiring to graduate school. While quantitative impact metrics are still being collected, anecdotal evidence shows that the supportive community AUGMENT fosters is improving student outcomes. Many mentees engage in departmental research, secure field opportunities, and pursue graduate education. With its positive impact on Anthropology students at the University of Michigan, AUGMENT demonstrates the importance of prioritizing undergraduate mentoring in efforts to diversify and decolonize our field.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• From the Lab to the Field: Pioneering Approaches to Undergraduate Mentoring in Archaeology

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 50587