Faculty, doctoral student to use mentoring grant to enhance careers of first-generation students in a academia

Nora Hochstetter always had an interest in research, but she never expected to turn her research lens into a "selfie." Hochstetter and Faiza Jamil, associate professor in the College of Education, are using a mentoring grant award from the William T. Grant Foundation to both analyze and assist Hochstetter's career and experience as a doctoral and first-generation student in academia. The grants strengthen the mentoring students receive while also allowing mentors and their junior researchers to better understand the issues facing students such as Hochstetter.

Hochstetter started as a Spanish major before teaching English in Spain. Then, she pursued a master's degree in English linguistics before settling in Milwaukee to teach literacy and professional skills to refugees and immigrants. After starting a family, having three kids and emerging on the other side of a pandemic, Hochstetter decided to pursue a Ph.D. to equip herself further to serve the kinds of students she had been working with her entire life.

When Hochstetter was an undergraduate student, she always knew she wanted to pursue her Ph.D. one day, although she didn't realize that "one day" would come nearly two decades later. The passage of time provides perspective, proving to be a significant asset for Hochstetter, considering that a major component of the research is Hochstetter's own experience.

"I'm a first-generation Mexican American student, and throughout my time in academia, I always felt like I was 'missing' some of the soft skills that might come automatically to other students," Hochstetter said. "I noticed that same challenge in many of the students I encountered, too, so to embark on research that involves myself just as much as them is truly exciting and unexpected."

Hochstetter and Jamil's work dovetails with research also funded by the William T. Grant Foundation, a two-year project called Representation Matters, which is designed to create a national dataset for gauging the effectiveness of state policies that seek to increase the number of teachers from more diverse backgrounds, a strategic priority of South Carolina's Department of Education.

Hochstetter is the graduate research assistant on the project, which Jamil is leading in collaboration with Dr. Luke Miller, a public policy scholar at the University of Virginia. The project is pulling together a decade-long national dataset to aid policymakers in increasing the number of school teachers from diverse backgrounds. The research team will then work with federal government agencies to improve existing data collection mechanisms to ensure these data are collected systematically and made available to the public, scholars, district leaders and policymakers in the future.

While that research project continues, Hochstetter and Jamil will gather data for the mentoring research running parallel to it. The research duo has a robust two-year plan for mentoring research that includes specific professional development activities for both Jamil and Hochstetter. Joint research, relational activities and training opportunities will help Hochstetter develop a professional network and improve her research abilities.

Jamil and Hochstetter will submit regular progress reports to the foundation on their activities, individual development and mentor-mentee relationship. According to Jamil, this creates accountability for both and differentiates the mentoring experience from other similar grants.

"This reporting structure creates another professional learning opportunity for Nora and elevates her voice as a co-owner of the work," Jamil said. "Mentoring graduate students is something I have been very passionate about my whole career. I was fortunate enough to receive very strong research mentorship, but I also entered faculty life with clear ideas on what I wanted to do differently as a mentor. This grant is allowing me to think, research and write about something that I have built over a decade in the Contexts of Learning and Development Lab and share it with others more systematically."

By documenting her journey with Jamil, Hochstetter hopes the results can help guide academic conversations for students facing uncertainties like those she faced. Hochstetter's German, Norwegian and Mexican heritage and her own experiences are wholly unique to her. However, she has learned through meeting others that there is overlap in the experiences of first-generation students from dual ethnicities.

"These are sensitive questions at times even within a person's own family," Hochstetter said. "All the people I've met either inside or outside of academia have helped me reflect on where I've been and who I want to show up as in the world, and that's been transformative. Maybe showing the effects these experiences have had on me can help others and be just as transformational."

Jamil sees the work benefitting other students in multiple ways. It will provide opportunities for faculty and graduate students to reflect on the mentoring strengths and challenges in their contexts and approach mentorship more intentionally. Ideally, she wants what they learn to support institutional efforts to make mentorship less dependent on individual faculty members and more of a collective effort, a systems-based approach to education she described in detail in her recent book, "Public Education in Turbulent Times: Innovative Strategies for Leadership and Learning."

Jamil also sees the work specifically benefitting those working with a specific student population in the short term.

"The work's focus on the graduate mentoring needs of Latinx students can have benefits across campus; this student population is one of the fastest growing populations in South Carolina public schools," Jamil said. "In the coming years, they are likely to make up a larger proportion of our graduate student population, so meeting the specific needs of the student population is something we hope our work will support."

Hochstetter said she feels fortunate to have found a mentor and partner in research in Jamil. Hochstetter praised Jamil's care for her students and how she invests in her chosen research areas. She and Jamil can also relate on a personal level in terms of raising children and their respective journeys through academia.

Hochstetter remains open to what a Ph.D. and this research will do for her career. While she enjoys research and writing, she still loves teaching and advocating for multilingual learners. She can also see herself managing the research of others in this space, but for now she is busy with this parallel research track where she examines data and herself.

"In a perfect world, I could just blend all of this together and end up doing something that checks all boxes," Hochstetter said. "I think as long as whatever I'm doing is helping others-directly or through lessons I'm learning about myself-I'll be good with that."

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