Date of Paper/Work

5-2015

Type of Paper/Work

Scholarly project

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Nursing

Department

Nursing

Advisor

Emily W. Nowak

Abstract

At St. Catherine University (SCU), the setting of this project, the Department of Nursing (DoN) supports student diversity with a “Statement of Diversity” and inclusionary principles incorporated in the Department of Nursing Philosophy Statement. The “Statement of Diversity” speaks to the importance for SCU to prepare all students for equitable care in an inclusive environment and to systematically assess the curriculum for assurance of adherence of these principles (SCU, n.d.). The SCU DoN’s mission and philosophy calls for a fundamental commitment to diversity as expressed by the “D” for “diversity” in its L-E-A-D-E-R mnemonic (SCU, 2010). These statements guide and inform the mentoring program described in this paper.

Therefore, the purpose of this scholarly project was to develop and implement a pilot for a formal mentorship program at St. Catherine University (SCU) between graduate level nurse educator students and undergraduate students who self-identified as at-risk. The objectives of this program included: (1) increase the successful program completion of at-risk undergraduate nursing students; (2) provide significant experiences for level 3 and level 4 nurse educator students working with at-risk students; and (3) foster SCU’s social justice mission and philosophy by supporting diversity in undergraduate nursing programs. The following section details a literature review of mentoring programs that were used to guide the creation of this scholarly project.

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