During the 2022-23 academic year, the Immigration and Ethnic History Society launched its first mentorship program. Under the leadership of Dr. Hana Maruyama and Dr. Leigh Ann Wilson, the program found mentors for 14 mentees located across the United States and beyond. This initiative aligns with IEHS’ commitment to fostering relationships among scholars at different stages of their careers and ensures the vibrancy of our immigration and ethnic history community for future scholars.
All immigration scholars are eligible to be either mentors or mentees. The program pairs established and up-and-coming scholars with graduate students and emerging/contingent scholars of immigration and ethnic history. During the mentorship period, mentors and mentees discuss wide-ranging topics, including writing and research, positioning on the job market, pursuing public history careers, and navigating university/department politics. Mentorship is also a great way for mentors to learn about new dissertation projects in their field at other institutions and the challenges graduate students may be juggling at their home institutions.
Tenure-track scholars are eligible to be both a mentor and a mentee. Feedback from mentees suggests that they find it very useful to receive advice from someone who has recent experience with the dissertation writing process and the academic job market. Please don’t underestimate your ability to help students even just a couple years behind you! If you have the time, it can be a great opportunity to work with graduate students. We also recognize that many of you are juggling service demands, book proposals/editing, teaching, and tenure review—and if this resonates with you, we hope you’ll consider requesting a mentor.
