2025/02/21 by Alexandra L. Norwood, Erina Baci · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Higher Education Practises and Engagement #Innovative Education and Learning Practices #International Student and Expatriate Challenges
paper · doi:10.1080/08884552.2025.2459279
openalex publication_date 2025/02/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
Anthropology is currently facing dual crises of declining undergraduate enrollment and low recruitment of diverse students relative to other fields. Mentoring plays a key role in academic success at every level, and recognition is growing that mentoring underrepresented students is an important pathway for diversifying the field. Many university-led mentoring programs focus on graduate students, however, successful recruitment and retention of diverse students requires intervention at the undergraduate level. The Anthropology Undergraduate-Graduate Mentoring Program (AUGMENT) is a student-led initiative to improve undergraduate diversity and retention within the University of Michigan (UM) Department of Anthropology. AUGMENT mobilizes graduate students to provide undergraduates who hold traditionally underrepresented and marginalized identities with the skills to navigate academia successfully. Since its inception in 2020, AUGMENT has served 130 undergraduates, from a diverse range of backgrounds, most of whom desire to pursue graduate degrees. We hope that by sharing the impact of AUGMENT in the UM Anthropology department on improving undergraduate experience and sense of community, we can provide a model for others trying to foster diverse communities. To diversify the field, diverse students need to not only be admitted but also to be welcomed into a community where they are supported and feel safe.