Profiles in Mentoring

Here you’ll find our conversations with researchers, practitioners, and policy makers in the field of mentoring. They share the wealth of knowledge that they possess with us and we share it with you. Click on any interview to hear a new perspective on mentoring.

A conversation with Professor Bernadette Sanchez

Professor Bernadette Sanchez is one of our fields most prolific scholars and among the most consistent voices for cultural-sensitivity in youth mentoring.  I am pleased to have had a recent conversation about Bernadette about her new studies and more.  JR: In your study, which we posted on the Chronicle, you explore the role of mentors in […]

Profiles in Mentoring: Aisha Griffith on afterschool mentoring

Interviewed by Cyanea Poon Dr. Aisha Griffith is an Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology at University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research focuses on the development and function of supportive relationships between adolescents and non-parental adults within informal and formal learning contexts. She is particularly interested in the critical role of trust within youth-adult relationships […]

Supporting autonomy in youth mentoring relationships: A Q&A with Amanda Davis & Dr. Samuel McQuillin

Amanda is a fourth-year doctoral student in the School Psychology program at the University of South Carolina’s Department of Psychology. She received her B.A. from Wake Forest University in 2019 with honors in psychology and her M.A. from the University of South Carolina in 2021. Amanda’s research focuses on studying how young people benefit from […]

Tom Keller

Profiles in Mentoring: A conversation with mentoring expert Thomas Keller

Interviewed by Maaike Kroes and Iris Kools Thomas Keller serves as the Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Mentoring Research and Director of the Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring. His research focuses on the development and influence of youth mentoring relationships and strategies for improving youth mentoring programs. He also addresses the well-being of youth […]

Meet Professor John M. Gottman, a leading expert on relationships

Editor’s Note: Professor John Gottman of the University of  Washington is one of the leading scholars on marital and other relationships and the factors that both strengthen and diminish understanding and closeness. Gottman is professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington. He co-directos the Washington’s Relationship Research Institute and the Gottman Institute with his wife. In […]

Profiles in Mentoring: Pioneering Researcher, Reed Larson

  Editor’s note: Reed Larson’s seminal research on the lives of teenagers helped to launch the field of positive youth development, and his insights and findings continue to enrich the work of mentoring researchers. His work explores the contexts of daily life and how developmental processes unfold in extra-curricular activities. Reed is a professor in […]

Profiles in Mentoring: A conversation with Torie Weiston-Serdan on Critical Mentoring

Written by Vera van den Berg  Torie Weiston-Serdan is the founder of the Youth Mentoring Action Network— a non-profit organization that focuses on youth mentoring. Moreover, Torie Weiston-Serdan is the author of “Critical mentoring: A practical guide”. She examines how marginalized and minority youth are served by mentoring and mentoring organizations. Critical mentoring, central to […]

Wallace Grace

“You cannot mentor someone you don’t know”: A Conversation With Wallace Grace About Black Teacher Collaborative, Mentoring, and Along

Wallace Grace, Director of Innovation at Black Teacher Collaborative (BTC), brings over a decade of experience in education as an educator, practitioner, and researcher having worked in education non-profits, schools, and districts across the nation. In his current role as Director of Innovation, Wallace contributes five years of experience using academic, applied, and practitioner-based research […]

Profiles in Mentoring: Timothy Cavell on mentoring aggressive children, chronically bullied children, and next steps for the field

Timothy Cavell is a Professor of Psychological Science at the University of Arkansas’ J. William Fulbright college of Arts & Sciences. He has been a speaker and presenter at mentoring conferences, summits, and institutes around the country. Professor Cavell’s research interests focus on how mentoring relationships with children who are highly aggressive or chronically bullied […]

A conversation with Renée Spencer

  Editors note: We are thrilled to feature Professor Renée Spencer (RS), whose work has significantly advanced our understanding of the dynamics of adult-youth relationships. In this conversation, UMass Boston clinical student, Laura Yoviene (LY) talks to Renée about her work and inspirations.  LY: As the nation’s leading qualitative researcher in mentoring, what do you see as […]