An examination of the mentoring component of the Committee Summer Research Opportunity Program, designed to inspire racially diverse faculty to encourage Black students to enroll in graduate programs and to mentor them is described. The overall intent was to describe how mentoring affects the professional socialization and career paths of Black students as they prepare for a life in the professoriate. Interviews with both former graduate and current undergraduate students in the Summer Research program revealed the influence of mentoring relationships during undergraduate and graduate years of study. Responses suggest the importance of mentorship in preparing Black American students for graduate education and expanding access to the professoriate by reducing social and occupational barriers and isolation within predominantly White academic institutions.