Dr. Buffie Longmire-Avital ‘02 (Psychology), PhD
Professor of Psychology
Director, Black Lumen Project: An Equity Initiative
Faculty Administrative Fellow for Mentoring
Elon University
Elon, NC
In June 2024, fifteen higher education institutions will gather at the inaugural Mentoring in Meaningful Relationships Summit to exchange and develop best practices for creating institutional infrastructures that sustain cultures of mentoring on college and university campuses. Decades of research has shown that mentors are a key component to supporting student success. However, most efforts to engage and develop mentoring happen at the programmatic level or for specific areas and groups. This summit will explore ways to create institutional change that centers mentoring as a fundamental aspect of a college education for all students. Institutional leaders (e.g., provosts, professors, directors, student life professionals, and students) will participate in the two-day summit at Elon University. This summit is also the culmination of Elon University’s Mentoring Design Team’s (MDT) efforts. The MDT, led by co-chairs Dr. Longmire-Avital ‘02, Professor of Psychology, Faculty Administrative Fellow and Director of the Black Lumen Project and Emily Krechel, Director of New Student Programming, has worked for nearly two years to create a framework that uses access to mentoring at Elon as a vehicle for driving equitable student success. Throughout the summit both members of MDT and participating schools will share their work.
A student interested in supporting these efforts would gain knowledge of mentoring best practices, including working directly with Dr. Longmire-Avital who is a leading scholar expert on using mentoring to sustain equitable access and student success for historically underrepresented/excluding minority students. Her model on reparative mentoring in high impact practices has been integrated into this current institutional change work. The student research intern will work closely with the summit planning committee, which includes President Emeritus of Elon, Leo Lambert and current Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Rebecca Kohn. The student will also interact with and learn from leaders in the mentoring field from across the country. The main task will be to support the identification of emerging themes that will be used to craft a best practices statement, which will be publicly released in the early fall.
In addition to this primary work, the student intern will also support efforts to create a small business ownership development institute for local, Black-identified community college and high school students. This institute will happen in fall 2024 and is the signature community mentoring outreach program for the Black Lumen Project. The aim of the institute is to provide skills and knowledge about small business ownership to students that are currently pursuing a career in trades. This restorative justice program is in honor of Wyatt Outlaw, the first Black Town Commissioner and Constable of Alamance County who was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in 1870. In addition to his community leadership role, Outlaw was one of the earliest investors in the Black business district of the county. The student intern will work with the team to finalize the curriculum for the institute, which may include working with current small business owners who will be involved in the program.