Expanding Opportunities for Latina College Students: Faculty-mentored Research at a Hispanic-Serving Institution

Mentoring is a highly effective practice that can provide Latina students with a caring role model that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and behaviors necessary to be successful in college and beyond. Career readiness is an important area to include in college student mentoring practices. This paper describes the development and implementation of a grant funded research project designed to provide a faculty mentored research experience to students enrolled in the Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge, the SEEK Department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Some of the questions that gave shape to this work included: Why is it important to engage underrepresented, economically challenged students in faculty-mentored research? How do you effectively engage students who are often overlooked for such opportunities? What outcomes can be accomplished by engaging students in faculty-mentored research? This body of work serves to improve the teaching and learning experience for Latinas at HSIs and seeks to add to the literature about the importance of mentoring in higher education.