Maximizing Mentoring: Enhancing the Impact of Mentoring Programs and Initiatives Through the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development at Xavier University of Louisiana.

The Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development (CAT+FD) at Xavier University of Louisiana (Xavier) is the stage for a unique model for multiple levels of mentor training and mentoring. The model is made up of four essential components that are necessary to enhance the outcomes of any mentoring initiatives. First, the Institution must be committed to supporting mentoring intitiatives with institutional resources and maintaining a culture that promotes the importance of mentoring for institutional success. Second, mentoring efforts must be directed through a trusted institutional unit that has earned the respect and buy-in of the institutional community. Well-trained people who are committed to developing expertise in effectively administering mentoring initiatives make up the third element of this model. The model is complete with the addition of evidence-based mentoring practices, initiatives and programs that provide the institutional community with resources, training and support for their mentoring. At Xavier, the mentoring culture that was established at the institution's founding has been formalized through a variety of initiatives targeting students, faculty and staff. These initiatives are administered from CAT+FD, a center with a 25-year history at Xavier and a campus reputation of expertise, excellence and trustworthiness. The work of two CAT+FD staff members, the STEM Educational Improvement Specialist (EIS) and the Faculty-in-Residence for New Faculty (FIR), is described in this chapter. The EIS directs a variety of mentoring initiatives focused on students, faculty and staff, while the mentoring initiatives overseen by the FIR are specifically geared towards supporting new faculty.

All for One And One for All: Coordinating the Resources of Individual Student Research Training Initiatives in Biomedical Sciences at Xavier University of Louisiana.

Xavier University of Louisiana has a national reputation for producing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates who go on to obtain MD and PhD degrees. According to a 2013 National Science Foundation report, Xavier is ranked first in producing African American graduates who go on to receive life sciences PhD degrees, fifth in the nation in producing African American graduates who go on to receive science and engineering PhD degrees, and seventh in producing African American graduates who go on to receive physical sciences PhD degrees. Xavier is currently third among the nation's colleges and universities in the number of African American graduates enrolled in medical school, according to data compiled by the Association of American Medical Colleges, and ranked first in the number of African American alumni who successfully complete their medical degrees. The success of Xavier's graduates is due to a combination of university-based student support initiatives and externally funded programs, in particular, the Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD), Maximizing Access to Biomedical Research Careers (MARC) U*STAR, and Research Initiative in Scientific Enhancement (RISE) programs. These three programs, funded by the Training, Workforce Development, and Diversity (TWD) Division at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), offer select trainees undergraduate research opportunities, support mechanisms, and a variety of activities designed to improve their potential for success in graduate school. The BUILD, MARC U*STAR, and RISE programs work closely together and with the University to leverage the resources provided by each in order to provide the best experience possible for their students with a minimum of redundancy of effort. This chapter focuses on the program components and how the programs work together.