Mentorship is a learning-centered, leadership-driven experience that nurtures the next generation of researchers and clinicians in academia (Rabeeah et al 2022). Faculty mentors in allied health science programs play a crucial role in shaping their mentees’ professional growth and long-term career fulfillment. Mentor-mentee relationships may be faculty and student, or seasoned faculty and junior faculty.
When reflecting on your prior experiences as a mentor or a mentee, ask yourself these questions:
1. Was it a positive experience?
2. Did you experience disparities based on your gender or race as a mentor or mentee?
3. Did you feel you had adequate training to be a mentor, or did your mentor demonstrate they had the skills to support you as a mentee? and
4. How were the mentors and mentees matched?
Many more questions need to be asked to ensure the mentor-mentee relationship and interactions are sufficient for exponential career growth. However, cultivating a positive experience for the mentee, ensuring there are no barriers (i.e., gender or race) for a unique experience, mentor training, and appropriate pairing of mentors and mentees are overarching considerations supported by evidence. (Rabeeah Z, 2022, Stenfors-Hayes T 2011, Mascarenhas F 2019, Bartle et al. 2020, Hill et al 2022, Frei et al 2010)
Problem
Concurrently, established formal mentorship programs are lacking in allied health science education programs for both students and junior faculty. Having formal mentorship programs for faculty to obtain training for mentorship roles and guidelines to support both junior faculty and students is essential for foundational success in academia. (Reibel & Arnett 2025, Mascarenhas F 2019) As a result of the lack of faculty mentors, students may not be getting exposure to avenues beyond clinical practice. This has been identified in dental hygiene education. (Reibel & Arnett 2025) It is suspected that allied health science programs, in general, have similar barriers to developing, implementing, and evaluating research mentorship programs. The goal of this article is to provide a blueprint for allied health programs to establish a framework for initiating a formal mentorship program.
Solution
To develop and implement a formal mentoring program, you need institutional ‘buy-in,’ strategic planning, faculty and students for piloting the program, an assessment metric(s), and a review of the outcomes process to make recommendations to modify the mentorship program. All these aspects depend on institutional support. The first step would be to identify the need for a mentorship program supported by evidence. The next step would be to align a mentorship program with the institution’s strategic plan.
Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is essential for building coalitions among deans, department chairs, program directors, and mentors. It is the deliberate process of setting goals, identifying resources, and establishing priorities. Beginning with a vision and mission statement may serve as the foundation to set goals to execute and then position a mentor program to identify resources, priorities and specific groups or individuals in a coalition of champions.
To build a diverse wide network of champions to support a variety of perspectives, it is important to identify individuals and groups who can contribute a range of resources, are versatile, and have the ability to pivot when changes need to occur. However, it is equally important that the determined coalition of champions are in alignment with the vision and the mission of the mentorship program. A mentorship program coalition of champions may support inclusive and sustainable programing and increase the reach of available resources. Further a mentorship coalition is especially relevant to match appropriate mentors and mentees and provide a unique mentor experience for the mentee for lifelong learning and professional development.
The next aspect of strategic planning is the development and implementation of a pilot program. A mentorship pilot program is needed on a small scale to determine feasibility. Mentorship pilot programs are required to collect outcomes to evaluate for expansion and improvements. Additionally, if funding is required to sustain or build the mentorship program for expansion, these primary outcomes are needed to secure internal or external grant funding.
Allied health science programs may find available resources for a mentorship program through their human resource department, professional organizations, or government agencies. One example of a successful student research mentorship program was published in the Journal of Dental Hygiene in 2025. (Reibel & Arnett 2025) This student research mentorship program partnered with the Writing Enrichment Curriculum to develop assignments and rubrics to improve student writing. (Reibel & Arnett 2025) This student research mentorship program not only implemented standardized assignments and grading rubrics across the curriculum but also resulted in eight student-led peer-reviewed publications between the years 2019-2023. (Reibel & Arnett 2025) Although the strategic plan and resources provided in this publication are specific to an allied oral health science program, (Reibel & Arnett 2025) the information is transferable to any allied health science program for students and can be modified for a faculty mentorship focus.
Conclusion
This blueprint is applicable to formal mentorship for faculty and students. The main framework is transferable and can be modified to match your institution’s strategic plan and goals. It is important to be aware of key components to ensure a humanistic mentor and mentee experience is cultivated. Strategic planning is necessary for developing, implementing, and evaluating a mentorship program. A coalition of champions who share the values of the vision and mission of a formal mentorship program contributes to the overall mentorship program and evaluation of metrics for future modifications and longevity.
Michelle Arnett currently serves as a Tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Primary Dental Care, Division of Dental Hygiene (DH) at the University of Minnesota (UMN) School of Dentistry (SOD). Arnett has 10 years of experience in academics and research at the University of Michigan SOD and the UMN SOD, in addition to 21 years of clinical practice experience. Her areas of research focus are motivational interviewing and periodontology. Arnett has published over 50 peer-review articles and two textbook chapters. Of those 50, 29 are specific her research niche in motivational interviewing and periodontology. The remaining 21 peer-reviewed publications focus on her teaching, student mentee research projects, and faculty and students’ wellness. Arnett has given over 60 presentations; 20 were invited national and international events. In 2023, Arnett received the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) President Centennial Awards for Oral Health Education. This was a one-time award at ADEA’s centennial celebration for an allied dental faculty who has made and continues to make a significant and positive impact on oral health education. Arnett has taught Communications, Periodontology, Leadership, and the Dental Hygiene Care Process: Clinical Application III and IV in the UMN undergraduate DH program and Instructional Strategies, Thesis I and II, and Capstone I-IV in the UMN graduate DH program. Her professional memberships include Sigma Phi Alpha-Nu Chapter, American Dental Hygienists’ Association (ADHA), and the ADEA.
References
Bartle, Emma K., Brandon J. Crivello, Jeri L. Bullock, and Ezinne I. Ogbureke. “Mentorship availability and needs for junior faculty members at the United States and Australian dental schools.” European Journal of Dental Education 24, no. 4 (2020): 790-798.
Frei, Esther, Martina Stamm, and Barbara Buddeberg-Fischer. “Mentoring programs for medical students-a review of the PubMed literature 2000-2008.” BMC medical education 10 (2010): 1-14.
Hill, Sarah EM, Wendy L. Ward, A. Seay, and J. Buzenski. “The nature and evolution of the mentoring relationship in academic health centers.” Journal of clinical psychology in medical settings 29, no. 3
Mascarenhas, Faye, Janice Townsend, Paul Caballero, Qingzhao Yu, and Paul L. Fidel Jr. “Student and faculty perspectives of a faculty‐student mentoring programme in a dental school.” European Journal of Dental Education 23, no. 2 (2019): 184-189.
Rabeeah, Zainulabdeen, Jocelid G. Carreno, Janet S. Kinney, and Marita R. Inglehart. “Career motivation and satisfaction of dental hygiene students in associate versus bachelor degree programs: A national survey.” Journal of Dental Education 86, no. 6 (2022): 649-660.
Reibel, Y.G., Jiang, Z., Arnett, M.C. “Mentor Like Minnesota: Outcomes of an undergraduate research mentorship program.” Journal of Dental Hygiene (Online) 99, no. 2 (2025): 48-54.
Stenfors‐Hayes, T., L. E. Lindgren, and S. Tranaeus. “Perspectives on being a mentor for undergraduate dental students.” European Journal of Dental Education 15, no. 3 (2011): 153-158.