Chapter 5: Making Connections: An International Student’s Perspective

Mentoring is typically defined as the sharing of knowledge and skills through a mentor’s support, guidance, and feedback to a mentee. In addition to these characteristics, the faculty technology mentoring program at Iowa State University provides the opportunity for both mentors and mentees to enhance cultural awareness, to break down traditional hierarchical barriers, and to experience learner-centered learning through continuous reciprocal mentoring relationships. Bandura’s Social Learning Theory emphasizes the importance of observing and modeling behaviors and emotional reactions of others, and indicates that human behaviors are the results of continuous interactions among cognitive, behavioral, and environmental influences (Bandura, 1977). This case study focuses upon the human relationship part of the mentoring program with an emphasis on the mutual benefits for mentor and mentee.