Faculty bring first-of-its-kind mentoring and community-building program to USC

Faculty members Goleen Samari, PhD, MPH, MA and Daniel Soto, EdD, MPH, are on a mission to provide the kind of group mentorship and community-building program that would have benefitted them as students.

In 2019, Samari co-founded the Mentoring of Students and Igniting Community (MOSAIC) program at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, and since coming to USC has partnered with Soto to bring the program to the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at Keck School of Medicine.

At the time of its inception, the MOSAIC program was the first of its kind in the nation, promoting a group-mentorship model and creating strong community among graduate students and faculty. Over the years the program has grown from 26 to over 400 students and is open to students enrolled in any academic program. Students choose whether to join MOSAIC and are free to participate in whatever way is best for them.

At USC, MOSAIC is completing its first year and serves 15 doctoral students. Samari’s co-founder, Stephanie Grilo, PhD, continues to run the Columbia Mailman chapter.

The goal of the MOSAIC program is to provide group faculty-to-student mentorship, professional and academic development, help navigating institutional resources, and the space to build community. Programming at USC this year has included events like skill-building workshops, chats with the chair, and informal gatherings to discuss challenges, celebrate achievements, listen, and support each other.

Samari and Soto have assembled faculty mentors Mariana Stern, PhD, Albert Farias, PhD, MPH, and Michelle Nuno, PhD, to ensure PhD students have someone specific to their programs to consult with when needed – whether they are seeking academic, professional, or general advice from someone who has experienced similar challenges.

Students have found the community-building model to be especially helpful. Lunches to discuss career and current events have been popular and fostered a sense of community. Question and answer sessions with Department leaders have been a favorite activity that serve to break down barriers and provide support. Students have thrived given the opportunity to connect across academic programs – both experiencing peer mentorship and discovering different styles of mentorship that exist in various programs.

“Repeatedly what emerges, both at Columbia and at USC, is that students want informal opportunities to interact with their faculty,” says Samari. “Breaking down some of the power dynamics and helping people feel more connected ultimately helps people move towards the mission and values of the University and their own professional goals in a more optimal way.”

“I hear it all the time from students,” agrees Soto. “They appreciate having the opportunity to meet with faculty in a group setting, on less of an academic level and more as a community support resource.”

Becoming a resource for students is part of breaking down and addressing what Samari and Soto reference as the “hidden curriculum” – that is, knowledge that students are expected to have but have not been taught.

“How do I email a faculty member whose research I’m interested in? How do I pursue a funder and talk to them? What’s the right way to talk to a program officer at a foundation? These are things that we assume people know how to do but you just don’t know if you don’t come from a family of academics or experience in higher education,” says Samari. “So, we try to bring some of it to light, and at least create a space where students feel brave enough to ask questions.”

Samari admits asking for help can be hard even for faculty, and she and Soto highlight the impact a mentorship community can have on students’ academic and life journey.

“There needs to be additional programming that meets students where they are and makes sure they feel included and part of the community,” says Samari.  “We know that community building is public health in action, and that it has benefits for people’s health and well-being in the long run, and we shouldn’t think of our public health students as exempt from that.”

There is a connection between public health and student success, Soto points out, and it makes sense to apply these methods to an academic situation.

“We’re taking public health models – and especially community-based models – and applying it to the educational experience,” says Soto. “That’s building a collective efficacy across those students to ensure success in higher education.”

Samari and her collaborators have evaluated the positive impact of programs like MOSAIC with publications from 2022 and 2023, which highlight successes. The program was also featured by FirstGen Forward as an example of a successful program.

With her move to the west coast, Samari has made the MOSAIC program a nationwide initiative. Samari and Soto hope to grow MOSAIC, both at USC and across other universities, and Samari has met with faculty at several institutions. She, Soto, and Grilo have discussed creating a formalized training that schools can implement. The team also hopes to eventually expand MOSAIC at USC to serve masters and undergraduate students, but Samari notes it will require dedicated funding.

Over 1000 students across USC and Columbia have been mentored through the MOSAIC program to date. Samari is proud of how the program has helped these students and feels she has benefitted as much as they have.

“It’s really motivating to see the students feel like they can be themselves and ask anything and be supported,” says Samari. “MOSAIC is a space that I also continue to feel most connected to, and most accepted and understood.”

As for Soto, he is excited to see what the future brings for the program.

“Being a part of this has been a really fun and honorable experience,” he says.

Students, faculty and others interested in joining or learning more about MOSAIC can reach out to Goleen Samari, PhD, MPH, MA.