September 2025 | Oceanography
51
MENTORS
THE HIDDEN BENEFICIARIES OF MENTORING
By Mona Behl, Sarah Clem, Colleen Mouw, Sonya Legg, Erin Hackett, Kristin Burkholder, Kristopher B. Karnauskas,
Sarah T. Gille, Lauren A. Freeman, Karan Venayagamoorthy, and Jerry L. Miller
FEATURE ARTICLE
POSITIONALITY STATEMENT
The authors of this paper are a gender diverse group of US-based
oceanographers from varied organizations, backgrounds, and eth-
nicities united by their roles as senior leaders in MPOWIR and
their commitment to sustaining this community-driven program.
INTRODUCTION
Mentoring Physical Oceanography Women+ to Increase Retention
(MPOWIR) is a community-driven program dedicated to improv-
ing the culture of oceanography, primarily through supporting
individuals who identify as women or non-binary (women+) and
are trained in physical oceanography. MPOWIR participants are
predominantly based in the United States, but the program has
recently expanded to include physical oceanographers worldwide
(22% of registrants at MPOWIR’s Virtual Conference have been
international participants). While the program’s original goal was
to improve retention at early career stages, its unexpected impact
on senior leaders—those in later career stages—has revealed crit-
ical insights into the challenges faced by established scientists
as they navigate their own career trajectories while mentoring
the next generation.
Later-career physical oceanographers encounter unique
hurdles: sustaining research productivity while also performing
administrative duties, adapting to evolving institutional expec-
tations, and confronting persistent gender disparities at senior
ranks. Simultaneously, despite compelling evidence that mentors
experience higher degrees of job satisfaction than non-mentors
(Wanberg et al., 2006; Gosh and Reio, 2012), they grapple with the
complexities of effective mentorship, including the time needed to
balance mentoring with research, teaching, and leadership roles;
addressing career challenges (e.g., work-life balance, imposter syn-
drome) that differ from their own early-career experiences; and
advocating for equity in environments where mentoring is under-
valued in promotion criteria.
MPOWIR’s framework—particularly its cross-institutional,
co-mentorship model—provides senior leaders with tools to navi-
gate these challenges. This paper highlights how MPOWIR’s recip-
rocal mentorship model not only benefits early-career scientists
but also equips senior leaders to thrive in their own careers while
fostering a more inclusive discipline.
BACKGROUND
Gender parity in oceanography has been increasing in recent years,
particularly at early career levels (Legg et al., 2023). While women
have received approximately half the PhDs in oceanography in the
United States since about 2007 (Lewis et al., 2023), only recently
have women occupied 50% of oceanography assistant professor
positions (Ranganathan et al., 2023). However, at higher levels,
the percentage of women still lags—in 2020, 39% of associate pro-
fessors and 22% of full professors in oceanography were women.
ABSTRACT. The community-based mentorship program MPOWIR (Mentoring Physical Oceanography Women+ to Increase
Retention) supports late-stage graduate students and early-career professionals who identify as women or non-binary genders. Its par-
ticipants engage in mentorship training and professional development, facilitate group mentoring, and draw attention to barriers women
and non-binary genders face in physical oceanography. MPOWIR was created to increase the retention of women in physical oceanog-
raphy in early career stages but has unexpectedly benefited the MPOWIR community beyond graduate students and early career profes-
sionals. Senior leaders participating as mentors in MPOWIR report a renewed sense of purpose, new research collaborations, a chance
to challenge their own biases, learning new ways to support mentees at their home institutions, awareness about career trajectories out-
side academia, and a stronger sense of community amid researchers who often felt isolated due to lack of diversity in their ranks. As they
guide and inspire the next generation, mentors reflect on their own career struggles and advise on changes that will create a more equita-
ble future for the discipline. This paper highlights the impacts of MPOWIR mentorship on senior leaders in physical oceanography and
demonstrates that mentorship is a two-way exchange that energizes and inspires all participants to become active agents of change. It con-
cludes with reflections on how institutions and organizations can facilitate effective mentoring and remove barriers to the professional
development of senior leaders in mentoring roles.