MENTORS THE HIDDEN BENEFICIARIES OF MENTORING

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 participants 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 oceanography in early career stages but has unexpectedly benefited the MPOWIR community beyond graduate students and early career professionals. 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 outside 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 equitable 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 concludes with reflections on how institutions and organizations can facilitate effective mentoring and remove barriers to the professional development of senior leaders in mentoring roles.