Portals to the (Un)Known: Celebrating Another Successful Year for the Graduate Mentorship Program

A mentor's influence can be transformative, shaping lives in remarkable ways. Mentorship opens avenues, fosters connections, nurtures confidence, and guides career trajectories.

Two years have passed since the College of Arts (COA) and the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences (CSAHS) jointly initiated the Graduate Mentorship Program. Designed to bolster support for Black, Indigenous, and racialized graduate students within their respective colleges, the program remains committed to fostering a nurturing environment. Its primary goal is to cultivate a haven where graduate students, faculty, and staff can create community, exchange valuable insights, and share experiences. Through mentorship, participants are empowered to develop essential skills, knowledge, attitudes, and connections.  

This past October, the program welcomed 15 new graduate student participants and 12 faculty participants from CSAHS and COA. The new graduate students expressed the importance of having a safe space to disclose their experiences navigating the academic system, to access professional networks, to affirm their identities and to develop the tools they need to succeed in a predominantly white institution.  

This second cohort embarked on a journey to explore their experiences and share their research interests through art. The mural project the cohort completed is a nod to our increasingly diverse community and a reminder of our responsibility to create spaces that enrich learning and knowledge sharing beyond the academy. 

“Students agreed that they would benefit from an opportunity to work together to create a research mobilization project where they each got to participate in the planning and execution of the event. Students were keen to support an activity that would showcase their research or interests in non-western ways or using community-based art methodologies,” said Abii Barrett, Inclusion Advisor,CSAHS. 

Mentee and a co-facilitator annais linares experienced both sides of the Graduate Mentorship Program. “Serving both as a mentee and co-facilitator of arts workshops, I've grown in understanding the diverse interests and needs of students across disciplines, particularly those newer to art or hesitant to engage. Collaborating with them and witnessing their transformative experiences in artmaking within a research context has been inspiring and informs my own community art research, particularly with Black, Indigenous and racialized communities in Canada,” linares said. This experience has also deepened her awareness of cultural stories and bridging gaps between her American background and the contexts of racialized individuals in Canada.  

Many graduate students who joined the program shared a common sentiment, having spent almost three years alone due to the COVID-19 pandemic before entering university. This made it difficult to develop new skills and interests to complement their research or coursework.

Mentee Shruti Chandrashekhar Nadkarni reflected when she realized the students were going to paint the mural on the wall. She felt the intense responsibility that she had always felt – as a woman, as a person of color, as an immigrant and especially as a first-generation PhD student. “Academia is a very isolating profession; you do your research, and you are responsible for the work you put into the real world. It is harder when it directly affects millions of vulnerable populations, (like my immigrant-related research does. It is terrifying sometimes. However, as I painted with my peers that day, I realized I wasn’t as alone as I expected myself to be.”

Thanks to the support of community-engaged artist Nimra Bandukwala and PhD student annais linares, ““Portals to the (Un)Known” is a collective expression of our individual experiences as Black, Indigenous and racialized researchers and artists, synthesizing our explorations of inner and outer knowledges.”

The Graduate Mentorship Program has undeniably fostered a supportive environment for both students and faculty over the last two years. Mentors and mentees alike hold a shared aspiration: the program's continuation as a nurturing space for Black, Indigenous and racialized students and faculty, facilitating both academic and personal development.

The next intake for the Graduate Mentorship Program will be at the end of September when the program will seek to register both mentees and mentors.

For students who aren’t sure about mentorship, mentee Laureen Owaga encourages students to come with flexibility to learn and recognize that they may need to adjust to work with some who may have different approaches than they do. “If you are encountering challenges in your mentorship, don’t be afraid to speak up! Reach out to Abii for extra support and she can help you figure out how you can get the most out of your mentorship.”

Questions about the program? Contact Inclusion Advisor Abii Barrett.