Minnesota State launches mentorship "strategy accelerator" pilot at eight campuses to boost equity

Minnesota State's Office of Equity and Inclusion unveiled a System Strategy Accelerator this month that will seed, coach and evaluate mentorship programs at eight pilot campuses in a first cohort designed to accelerate progress on the system's Equity 2030 goals.

The accelerator, presented to trustees during the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion committee meeting, funds mentorship as a high-impact practice with proven results on student belonging and persistence. The initial cohort includes a mix of two- and four-year institutions that will either launch new peer-to-peer mentoring programs or expand existing models. The eight institutions will receive seed funding, coaching and access to common tools for onboarding mentors, documenting interactions and measuring outcomes.

Dr. Priyank Shaw, associate vice chancellor, told trustees the pilot will target Equity 2030 populations — first-generation students, students of color and Pell-eligible students — while allowing each campus to adapt the model to local needs. The office expects minimum cohort participation of around 150'180 mentees across the eight sites and roughly 50 mentors in total in year one, with varying mentor:mentee ratios by campus. OEI will require a mid-year self-study in January and a full-year impact report at the end of the academic year.

Metro State presented the Metro Peer Mentors (MPM) pilot as a case study. Faculty lead Dr. Gemma Punty and peer-mentor coordinator Andre Anderson described a spring pilot serving reentry and academically at-risk students in course-based seminars. MPM pairs one peer mentor with up to four mentees, includes weekly meetings and training, and collects pre/post measures on GPA and retention. Anderson, a program participant, described how mentoring helped build belonging and purpose and said the work "multiplies": students who are mentored often become mentors later.

Trustees asked about program design details: whether mentors or mentees would be paid or receive stipends (several teams plan modest stipends or incentives), how programs would align with TRIO or student-support offices for recruitment, and how success will be measured (term-to-term persistence, GPA, program completion and qualitative belonging metrics). OEI said it will evaluate both mentee outcomes and mentor development — noting mentors often show academic benefit and leadership growth.

Funding and scaling remain open questions. OEI emphasized the pilot is intentionally limited by seed funding and invited trustees to consider additional funding streams — including philanthropy and external grants — to expand the program if results are positive. Trustees asked OEI to return in the fall with budget-at-scale estimates and early mid-year metrics.

If the pilot meets its retention and completion goals, OEI expects lessons learned and templates could be rapidly scaled to other campuses in subsequent cohorts.