12: Critical Black Feminist Mentoring: Implications for Student and Faculty Success and Well‑Being in Academic Spaces Post‑COVID

Mentoring, broadly defined, provides moral support while recognizing students as individuals with strengths and limitations that may affect their success, both inside and outside the classroom (Luedke, 2017). At the same time, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) students have specific needs that faculty mentors must address—again, in both academic and nonacademic settings. Mentoring BIPOC students has always been challenging, but the COVID‑19 pandemic added further complications for mentors and mentees: it exposed multiple inequities, including housing, food, income, preexisting health concerns, racial injustices, and family insecurities (Grubic et al., 2020; Lederer et al., 2020).

In the aftermath of the pandemic, many students have reported experiencing increased academic workloads, complex family obligations, financial hardship, and persistent health-related challenges (Olatunji et al., 2023; Su et al., 2022). The disruptions and upheaval caused by the global health crisis placed considerable strain on students, who are now grappling with many responsibilities and concerns extending beyond traditional scholastic duties. This shift in the educational landscape has led to heightened levels of stress and difficulty, as students strive to navigate the evolving academic and personal demands placed upon them in the post-pandemic era (Hako, 2024). Consequently, BIPOC students are experiencing unprecedented levels of trauma, making mentoring a high-priority intervention strategy for U.S. universities and colleges.