UK College of Medicine African-American Medical Students\u27 Experience with Faculty Mentoring

This research study explored the faculty mentoring experiences of African-American medical students at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine (UK COM). The purpose of the research is to determine benefits and challenges expressed by the African-American students so that UK COM can use the student voices to improve faculty mentoring for this student population. The following broad questions guided the research: 1) What are UK College of Medicine African-American medical students’ experiences with faculty mentoring? 2) What are UK College of Medicine African-American medical students’ experience with faculty mentoring on a satellite regional campus? Specifically, the investigation seeks to provide further detail regarding positive aspects of African-American medical students’ experiences with mentoring as well as information about the challenges these students face—to inform future medical student mentoring programs for this under-represented population of students. The study revealed that students perceived faculty mentoring to be beneficial to their personal and professional development; beneficial for learning about leadership, research, scholarship, and conference opportunities; and beneficial for networking and having a role model. However, this study found that African-American students desire more faculty of color, more programming and resources related to mentoring, and better availability of mentors. The study also found a need for more mentoring opportunities and better communication about mentoring for students on satellite regional campuses