Research Scientist II
Dr. Rebecca Stelter is a Developmental Psychologist and Research Scientist at iRT. Her professional interest in mentoring grew out of her ten-year involvement as a Big Sister in the Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program. She has over a decade of experience conducting research and developing tools to support mentoring programs in creating and cultivating effective mentoring relationships that support positive youth outcomes.
She is a co-author of the third and fourth editions of the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring (EEPM), which provides youth mentoring programs with research-based standards for supporting effective mentoring relationships. In addition, she has co-authored several Supplements to the EEPM that provide additional guidance for mentoring programs implementing specific models of mentoring, including group, peer, e-mentoring, workplace, and STEM mentoring.
She is published in the areas of mentoring, children’s social and emotional development, and the social information processing skills of aggressive children. In her research on mentoring, her work with her colleagues has focused on two main topics. The first topic is how the implementation of research-based mentoring program practices are associated with the length and quality of mentoring relationships. The second topic is the importance of training for supporting effective mentors and mentoring relationships.
Dr. Stelter has authored and co-authored numerous research-based curricula for mentoring programs, including the widely used Preparing for Mentoring online mentor training program, as well as the Building the Foundation for Mentees and Parents courses, the Building Your Mentoring Skills in-person mentor training course, the PERL mentor training curriculum, and the Substance of Change mentor training course. These curricula are among the many high-quality resources available to mentoring programs on mentoringcentral.net.
Dr. Stelter thanks her professional mentors, Dr. Amy Halberstadt and Dr. Janis Kupersmidt, as well as the many inspirational teachers she had over the years for their support and guidance.
