HOW TO MENTOR G RADUATE STUDENTS

M EN TORI NG HOW TO MENTOR G RADUATE STUDENTS A FACULTY GUIDE T H E G RA D U A T E S C H O O L H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 1 U N I VE RS I T Y O F WA S H I N G T O N Dedication Marsha L. Landolt 1948–2004 LaMerle Belcher You would not be reading this guidebook were it not for the bold yet compassionate leadership of Marsha L. Landolt, University of Washington Graduate Dean from August, 1996 to January, 2004. Dr. Landolt envisioned a Graduate School that not only provides excellent services to UW graduate students and faculty, but also proactively shapes the future of graduate education in the United States and abroad. In particular, Dr. Landolt was an ardent advocate for graduate students and passionate about helping them reach their goals. Her vision drove the creation of innovative resources for graduate research, teaching, professional development, career planning and, of course, mentoring. Although the dean’s death was a tragic and untimely loss for our community, her enduring legacy will benefit all UW graduate students and faculty far into the future. This guidebook is dedicated to Dean Marsha Landolt’s life and accomplishments. 2 The Graduate School Dear UW Graduate Faculty Member: An important part of the mission of The Graduate School is to improve the quality of the graduate student experience. To that end, we spend a considerable amount of time talking with students about their goals, concerns, and suggestions for improving their experience. Over the years, a common theme has emerged—the desire for more effective mentoring. Nationally and locally, the graduate student population is undergoing important changes. Although the University of Washington possesses many unique qualities, it shares with other research universities the challenge of transforming itself from a predominantly white, male-oriented institution to one that is increasingly diverse. The University is working to enhance institutional culture to better serve the needs of an ever-changing and dynamic learning community. Effective mentoring begins with the faculty. From our work with a wide range of departments, we have learned that mentoring is best when graduate students and faculty share responsibility for ensuring the quality of such support. When it comes to academic success and persistence, there is no substitute for a healthy relationship between you and your mentees. The purpose of this guidebook is to help faculty members enhance their knowledge of the mentoring process—the elements, roles, and stages of development associated with it along with practical strategies for nurturing rewarding relationships with graduate students. Because mentoring is a two-way street, we have also developed a companion guidebook for graduate students, called How to Obtain the Mentoring You Need. Mentoring is key to success for all those involved in graduate education, and we hope these resources will be useful for faculty, students, and staff alike. The themes and recommendations derive from several respected sources. First, we consulted resources and materials from our peer institutions and adapted many aspects of mentoring handbooks developed by the Rackham School of Graduate Studies, University of Michigan. Their themes resonated well with our own campus experience. We also drew on findings from national studies and initiatives, such as the Woodrow Wilson Foundation’s Responsive PhD Initiative and the National Science Foundation’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program. Closer to home, we drew on many insights from students, faculty, and staff who have participated in The Graduate School’s Preparing Future Faculty Initiative and the Re-envisioning the PhD project, both funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts. This guidebook for faculty and the companion version for graduate students are part of a collection of resources The Graduate School has developed to enrich mentoring. Please explore them on our website, www.grad.washington.edu/mentoring. The Graduate School’s Office of Student Affairs is also a resource to faculty for questions that may arise. The Graduate School will continue to sponsor opportunities for faculty, students, and staff to promote a learning environment of excellence. We hope you will use this guidebook as a tool to reflect on and plan your mentoring, and to share promising ideas with your colleagues. We wish you every success as you engage in the challenging and rewarding experience of mentoring graduate students. —The Graduate School Team H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 1 Acknowledgments Many hands and minds were instrumental in creating this mentoring guide for the UW graduate education community. We thank the Rackham School of Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan for making versions of their mentoring handbooks available to all graduate schools for local adaptation. Students and professors are the lifeblood of the graduate education enterprise. Over the years, hundreds of graduate students and faculty at UW and other research universities have participated in professional development projects sponsored by The Graduate School. We are indebted to them for graciously sharing their ideas on enhancing graduate education and providing insights on mentoring that shaped this guide. Several campus leaders offered their time and thoughtful expertise in reviewing earlier drafts. We are especially thankful to Jody Nyquist, Associate Dean Emerita and former Director, Re-envisioning the PhD project; Dyane Haynes, Director, Disability Resources for Students Office; Charlotte Spang, Executive Director, Foundation for International Understanding through Students; Dick Sprick, Director, Gay, Bisexual, Lesbian, Transgender Commission; Julia Harrison, former President, Graduate and Professional Student Senate; and the International Teaching Assistant Program staff of the Center for Instructional Development and Research. Suzanne Brainard, Executive Director, Center for Workforce Development, kindly allowed us to adapt two worksheets from her work on mentoring in science and engineering. We also thank the following individuals for timely technical and photographic assistance: Emily Borda, Nancy Bixler, Gary Farris, Lana Rae Lenz, Valerie Manusov, Ambre Martinez, Cynthia Morales, Jerry Pangilinan, Jill Perry, Gerry Philipsen, Essence Pierce, Frank Rodriguez, Diane Rogers, Cathy Schwartz, Cheryll Sorensen, and Saskia Witteborn. Bettina Woodford, a UW doctoral alumna in Communication, led the adaptation of the guide and wrote several new sections. A former program officer for graduate education at the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, she directs communications efforts for the Evans School of Public Affairs. The 2004–2005 Graduate School leadership team (left to right): Donald Wulff, Betty Feetham, Gail Dubrow, Johnnella Butler, Thomas Gething, and Maresi Nerad Gavin Sisk 2 CONTENTS Section I. Introduction 2 3 3 4 4 What graduate students tell us Opening up lines of communication Tools for excellence How to use this guidebook 4. Understand the diverse factors that influence students’ mentoring needs 16 17 19 20 23 25 27 28 30 31 32 32 32 33 33 33 Section II. Mentoring in a dynamic learning community What is mentoring? Benefits of mentoring Who is coming to graduate school? A mentor’s varied roles 5 5 6 6 8 Section III. Five strategies for effectively addressing graduate students’ diverse needs 1. Develop your own vision of good mentoring 2. Embrace the basics of good mentoring Gender Sexual orientation and gender identity Race and ethnicity Disabilities Being from another country Age Family responsibilities Prior work experience and career aspirations Disadvantaged socioeconomic background 5. Encourage your department to strengthen mentoring 10 11 11 11 11 12 12 12 13 13 13 13 13 14 15 15 15 15 Develop a mentoring policy Assign a first-year, temporary advisor Establish peer mentoring Establish multiple mentoring mechanisms Reward effective mentoring Engage graduate students in ongoing conversations Demystify graduate school for students Provide constructive and supportive feedback Provide encouragement Foster networks and multiple mentors Look out for students’ interests Treat students with respect Provide a personal touch 3. Know the common concerns of all graduate students Section IV. Getting the journey started Conduct initial meetings with students’ interests in mind Clarify expectations Basic advice to give your mentees You are on your way! 34 35 35 37 38 39 Section V. Mentoring resources Worksheets Need for role models Questioning the canons Fear of being categorized as a “single-issue” scholar Feelings of isolation Burden of being a spokesperson Balancing work and lifestyle 1. Phases of graduate student professional development 2. Mentor expectations 3. Planning for first meetings—a mentor’s checklist 4. Professional development plan 5. Sample mentor and mentee agreement Further reading 40 41 42 43 44 45 H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 1 3 SECTION 1 Introduction in graduate education. and professional development. This guidebook for faculty, How to Mentor Graduate Students, along with its companion version for graduate students, How to Obtain the Mentoring You Need, reflects the University of Washington Graduate School’s recognition and support of the pivotal role mentoring plays The purpose of these publications is to help UW faculty and graduate students understand the building blocks of good mentoring and pursue a shared road map for excellence in academic 2 4 What graduate students tell us One of the strongest desires graduate students express, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, age, nationality, socioeconomic background, discipline, or department affiliation, is to obtain more effective mentoring. The need is universal: good mentoring helps all students learn more successfully. And that is the University’s core business. This universality, however, does not mean that all students’ needs are the same. Far from it. Because graduate students come from different walks of life and have different needs, effective mentoring is not equal mentoring but equitable mentoring. Just as the effective teacher tailors lessons to the learning needs of diverse students, the skilled mentor tailors guidance strategies appropriately to the goals and circumstances of individual mentees. At The Graduate School, we have the unique opportunity of hearing from a wide range of students, including those who have been underrepresented or marginalized historically in US higher education. As a result, we have learned about challenges students face in their graduate programs. Mentoring, like all academic and professional activities, takes place in historical, social, and political contexts that influence our institutional culture. The Graduate School acknowledges this fact in its commitment to identify, pursue, and encourage strategies that enhance success, diversity, and multiculturalism in all facets of graduate education. Opening up lines of communication Talking regularly about research, coursework and teaching, examining the multiple roles of a professional in a particular field, and jointly exploring funding avenues and future job opportunities are hallmarks of good mentoring. Graduate students consistently describe these themes as high priorities. The recommendations in this guidebook draw attention to useful concepts that will help you and your students engage in productive and timely communication. This guidebook also addresses biases, assumptions, and perceptions that hinder communication and offers ways that you can eliminate or minimize their negative effects on your mentoring relationships. No single formula for successful mentoring exists, but we do know that frank and mutual exploration of expectations Kathy Sauber and interests should be the focus of first meetings with mentees. While this guide cannot provide the answers to every question or scenario that may arise, it does address the factors that can influence graduate students’ mentoring needs and suggests effective ways you and your students can promote learning and professional development. The concept of mentoring has gained currency in recent years as a means to improve the productivity and effectiveness of the many individuals engaged in the graduate education enterprise. At the same time, this increased attention has revealed that our day-to-day understandings of the process often are limited. Many people assume that good mentoring “just happens” naturally or is only for those who are “lucky enough” to stumble upon the right individuals to guide their intellectual and professional development. Good mentoring, however, is not a matter of luck. It is a matter of awareness, intention, and a genuine desire to see protégés succeed. The sections in this guidebook walk you through the concepts, planning, strategies, and tools that facilitate meaningful mentoring relationships. H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 3 5 Tools for excellence This guidebook is part of a suite of resources The Graduate School is developing to help faculty and graduate students achieve successful mentoring relationships based on realistic goals, expectations, and understandings: ■ Section IV, Getting the journey started, helps you begin the initial groundwork of building great relationships with your mentees. Here you can explore strategies to clarify your and your mentees’ mutual interests as well as articulate the expectations that you have of each other. Section V, Mentoring resources, provides sample work- ■ ■ ■ ■ A growing compilation of online professional resources for master’s and doctoral students, faculty, and staff. The Marsha L. Landolt Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award. Distinguished Graduate Mentor Statements. Graduate School Guidelines for Good Practice in Graduate Education: Part 3 of 3 (Mentoring). MyElectronicMentor (in progress), a self-guided, interactive mentoring assistance program designed especially for UW graduate students. sheets to help you and your graduate students implement the strategies and recommendations discussed in this guidebook. It also provides a list of further readings to expand your knowledge of mentoring and professional development. We hope this guide serves all members of our graduate community—graduate students, faculty, graduate program coordinators and assistants, heads of departments, schools and colleges, and central administration—as a useful starting point for enriching mentoring as part of the graduate student experience and for ensuring vitality in graduate education at the University of Washington. We encourage you and your graduate students to explore these resources by visiting our web site at: www.grad.washington.edu/mentoring. There you will also find direct web links to numerous campus-wide services that help students succeed in our academic community. How to use this guidebook Section II, Mentoring in a dynamic learning community, lays a foundation for understanding the nature of mentoring and how it is similar to, and different from, advising. Here you can explore the basic definition and core qualities of good mentoring, the changing nature and needs of the graduate student population, the benefits of mentoring to you and your students, and the various roles and responsibilities you have as a mentor. This section also stresses the importance of helping graduate students seek multiple mentors. Section III, Five strategies for effectively addressing graduate students’ diverse needs, provides concrete practical strategies and recommendations for managing relationships with your mentees. Here you can expand your understanding of the personal, social, demographic, professional, and historical factors that influence your mentees’ goals and challenges. The focus is on helping you adopt fulfilling mentoring approaches that assist all students in their pursuit of excellence, both during and beyond the graduate experience. 4 6 SECTION II What is mentoring? Mentoring is a relationship. At the same time, it is a journey mentors and mentees embark on together. Throughout this journey, two or more individuals help each other arrive at a destination called professional excellence. Naturally, the journey can be challenging, with occasional muddy trails and blind spots but with many more panoramic lookouts and high points. Good mentoring is simply “the best way to get there.” In graduate school, mentoring relationships are close, individualized relationships that develop over time between Mentoring in a dynamic learning community This section introduces you to definitions of mentoring, the benefits of mentoring relationships for students and mentors, and the varied roles mentors play in graduate students’ lives. a graduate student and one or more faculty members, or with other professionals who have a strong interest in the student’s educational and career goals. It includes not only academic guidance, but also prolonged nurturing of the student’s personal, scholarly, and professional development. The Council of Graduate Schools, a national policy organization dedicated to the improvement and advancement of graduate education, defines mentors as: advisors, who have career experience and share their knowledge supporters, who give emotional and moral encouragement tutors, who provide specific feedback on performance masters, who serve as employers to graduate student “apprentices” sponsors, who are sources of information and opportunities models of identity, who serve as academic role models —Zelditch, 1990, p 11 In general, although some mentoring and advising activities are similar, not all mentors are advisors and not all advisors are mentors. (By advisors, we mean thesis or dissertation supervisors.) For our purposes in this guidebook, it is useful to distinguish the key qualities of advising from those of mentoring in the following way: Advising focuses on the activities, requirements, and attainment of satisfactory progress through the steps needed to achieve a graduate degree. Mentoring focuses on the human relationships, commitments, and resources that help graduate students find success and fulfillment in their academic and professional pursuits. H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 5 7 Section 1I This guidebook focuses primarily on mentoring, although many of the recommendations also extend to advising. Think of mentoring as the consistent and developmental evolution of wisdom, technical knowledge, assistance, support, empathy, and respect to graduate students through, and often beyond, their graduate education. In other words, mentoring is a constellation of activities—educational, interpersonal, and professional—that mean more than advising students on how to meet degree requirements, as critical as that is. Mentoring helps students understand how their ambitions fit into graduate education, department life, and postgraduate career choices. An effective mentoring relationship passes through several developmental phases (see Worksheet 1, Phases of graduate student development, page 40). Early on, a mentor recognizes a student’s unique qualities and believes the student deserves special coaching. In turn, this recognition inspires the student, who seeks to benefit from the mentor’s support, skills, and wisdom. Later, both parties explore and deepen their working relationship, perhaps collaborating on projects in which the student develops into a junior colleague. After a while, the protégé may grow in ways that require some separation from the mentor, to test his or her own ideas. This distancing is a sign that the mentoring relationship is maturing and providing the protégé with the skills needed to function independently. Finally, both mentor and mentee may redefine their relationship as one of equals, characterized over time by informal contact and mutual assistance, thus becoming true professional colleagues. undergraduates, their goal was to obtain knowledge, while in graduate school their goal is to contribute knowledge to a field of study and begin functioning as members of a profession. There is no doubt about it: quality mentoring greatly enhances graduate student success in many aspects. Studies indicate that graduate students who receive effective mentoring demonstrate greater: ■ productivity, in research activity, conference presentations, pre-doctoral publications, instructional development, and grant-writing. ■ academic success, in persisting in graduate school, taking a shorter time to earn a degree, and performing better in academic coursework. ■ professional success, with greater chances of securing tenure-track positions if seeking employment in academe or career advancement if seeking leadership positions in other educational settings or economic sectors. Mentoring enables graduate students to: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ acquire a body of knowledge and skills. develop techniques for networking and collaborating. gain perspective on how their discipline operates academically, socially, and politically. acquire a sense of scholarly citizenship by grasping their role in a larger educational enterprise. deal more confidently with challenging intellectual work. Mentoring enables faculty members to: ■ ■ Benefits of mentoring Research confirms what most faculty and graduate program directors already know: many students enter their graduate programs with little understanding of the complex landscape of higher education or how different philosophies in graduate programs drive expectations for academic excellence and ideal career pathways. In fact, despite very articulate statements of purpose in their applications, many graduate students initially are unsure of what they will do with a graduate degree. This is not a problem but rather an opportunity for good mentoring. Students’ career goals are evolutionary and good mentors assist students with their professional evolution. Early on, graduate students learn that advanced study differs vastly from their undergraduate experience. As ■ ■ ■ ■ engage the curiosities and energies of fresh minds. keep abreast of new research questions, knowledge, paradigms, and techniques. cultivate collaborators for current or future projects. identify and train graduate assistants whose work is critical to the completion of a research project or successful course offering. prepare the next generation of intellectual leaders in the disciplines and in society. enjoy the personal and professional satisfaction inherent in mentoring relationships. Who is coming to graduate school? The graduate student population has changed profoundly in the last 20 years, and will continue to do so in the 21st Century. Changes are evident in overall student demographics and market demands for graduate training. 6 8 M e n t o ri n g i n a d y n a m i c l e a r n i n g c ommunity Mary Levin While such changes vary from region to region and among institutional types, for several reasons mentors can no longer assume that the typical graduate student is a full-time, white male from a middle-class background. In addition, mentors should not assume that every PhD graduate has prospects for immediate employment in a major research university upon degree completion.* First, the average age of the graduate student population is on the rise. The National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey (NPSAS) data for 2000 shows that the average graduate student is 33 years old and 20% of all graduate students are over the age of 40. Thus, many of the students you will mentor enter graduate school with family responsibilities, marriage or life partners and dependents, and prior work experience. In addition, close to 57% of all graduate students maintain some form of employment outside of their studies. Second, the racial and gender diversity of the graduate student population is also increasing, due to shifting US demographics and to government and privately funded programs aimed at widening access to higher education. If national census projections hold, in the next 15 years Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and African Americans will constitute nearly 40% of the population between the ages of 25 and 39—the age group from which graduate education draws most of its applicants. According to the most recent Summary Report of Doctorate Recipients in the US, individuals from these ethnic groups and Native Americans earned 4,730, or 19%, of the 25,450 doctoral degrees awarded to US citizens in 2002. While still a relatively low number of the total PhD earners that year (39,955, including non-US citizens), the proportion of minority PhD earners has increased 70% since 1991. Also, in 2000, 79,847 of 497,000 total master’s degrees were awarded to US minority students, a proportional increase of 88% since 1991 (NPSAS, 2000). Third, women now pursue advanced study in record numbers, constituting 60% and 51% of US citizens who earn master’s degrees and PhDs, respectively. However, gender * The data sources mentioned in this section, and other sources on issues and trends in graduate education, are listed in Section V. H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 7 9 representation by field still varies considerably. The physical sciences and engineering struggle with this problem more than other disciplines in the arts, humanities, and sciences or the professional fields. Experts predict even further increases for women and minorities at both levels of advanced study over the next decade. These changes affect graduate students’ needs for mentoring and, along with other factors, drive greater variety in career goals. For example, while it is true that many doctoral students pursue advanced study to become professors, an increasing number are seeking professional opportunities outside this traditional career path. This change is partly a result of the US economy transitioning from industrial-based to knowledge-based. Many students seek high-level analytical tools and intellectual development to market themselves as future leaders in a wide range of “knowledge economy” sectors. In addition, downturns in academic employment and fewer tenured lines in many disciplines are leading some students—including many who originally intended to become professors—to shift their professional sights to arenas outside of academe. Such developments bolster the case for re-examining the structures of graduate education and students’ needs for mentoring. As the graduate student population diversifies, the oft-relied on separation of students into “traditional vs. nontraditional” categories is becoming specious. Mentors need to enlarge their repertoire of helpful approaches to facilitate this diversification. Because there is no single recipe for good mentoring, the best approach is, a) to acquire a solid understanding of what students need to accomplish their goals and, b) to learn about strategies for tailoring mentoring to the diverse characteristics of all graduate students. Sections III, IV, and V in this guidebook help you do that. students’ development. You might be comfortable wearing many hats at once, or prefer only one or two at a time. Whatever the case, it is important to remember that effective mentoring, like wisdom itself, is multidimensional. The best mentors adjust their multiple roles to meet different students’ needs. While there is no single formula for good mentoring, it is important that you know the three “core” roles that are essential to advancing the educational, professional, and personal growth of your graduate students. Disciplinary guide As noted earlier, sometimes a faculty member can be both a thesis/dissertation advisor and a mentor whereas, in other cases, the student benefits more by having different people carry out each role. Either way, the role of a disciplinary guide is to help students become contributing members of their disciplines. This guidance goes beyond helping students complete the requirements of their academic programs, as important as that assistance is. This guidance is deeper and involves helping students to understand how their discipline has evolved as a knowledge enterprise; recognize novel questions; identify innovative ways of engaging undergraduate students in knowledge through teaching and collaborative research projects; and see their discipline—its questions and methodologies—in relation to other fields. Another aspect of this role is to help students grasp the impact their disciplines have on the world outside of academe, and to assist them in pursuing the kind of impact they desire to have with a graduate degree. Skills development consultant While graduate study is about learning how to generate knowledge, especially at the doctoral level, its pressures for specialization can make graduate students temporarily lose sight of the array of skills needed to succeed both during and after graduate school. This can result, in part, because of the relative intensity and isolation of research. As a skills consultant, your role is to emphasize the variety of skills, including but going beyond research skills, that effective professionals possess. For example: ■ Oral and written communication skills. These include clearly expressing the results of one’s study; translating field-specific knowledge for use in varied contexts, A mentor’s varied roles Mentors play many combinations of roles in students’ lives. “Guide,” “counselor,” “advisor,” “consultant,” “tutor,” “guru,” and “teacher,” are just some of the functions associated with helping students succeed. Your particular combination of professional expertise, personal style, and approach to facilitating learning shapes the kind of mentor you are. You probably will wear several “hats” over the course of your 10 8 M e n t o ri n g i n a d y n a m i c l e a r n i n g c ommunity ■ ■ such as teaching or interacting with the public; and persuading others, such as funders, policy makers, or conference audiences, of the value of one’s work. Team-oriented skills. Often, the most innovative learning occurs in teams that problem solve collaboratively. Increasingly, complex problems require interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary solutions. Your role is to foster collaborative problem-solving by helping students learn through group exercises and projects. Leadership skills. Graduate students are prime candidates to become intellectual leaders in a variety of settings. Effective mentors help students build their potential by inviting them to assume leadership roles throughout graduate study, e.g., in seminars, graduate student government, community outreach, disciplinary societies, and department or university committees. These activities help build people skills—listening to others, shaping ideas, and expressing priorities—which are indispensable for advancement in any career. Career consultant In recent years, the mentor’s role as career consultant has taken on increased importance, especially for doctoral students. As a result, many doctoral students are choosing challenging positions in a greater variety of educational settings and diverse sectors of the economy. As a career consultant, the mentor imparts a view of careers as an evolutionary process—one that requires planning, flexibility, and adaptation to change. Informed of job market realities, an effective mentor finds ways to help students develop relationships with other potential mentors. You can find these individuals in other places in the University or among your graduate alumni. You can also find them in schools, community groups, nonprofits, corporations, government agencies, or industrial laboratories. Wider relationships help students gain a realistic and informed view of their career choices and learn how to translate their degree into professional opportunities. With a modest investment of time, you can learn about graduate employment trends inside and outside of the academy by consulting the Occupational Outlook Handbook (US NBLS) or visiting The Graduate School’s web pages at www.grad.washington.edu/mentoring. It would be impossible for you to fulfill equally well all these mentoring roles for each and every mentee. Part of your responsibility as a mentor is to help students cultivate multiple mentoring relationships inside and outside the UW. Multiple sources of expertise improve students’ ability to marshal the many resources they need to meet the challenges of graduate education and future careers. To make the most of mentoring, have thoughtful discussions with your mentees and ask them what they need from you to navigate their educational experience, adapt to disciplinary cultures, and become productive, fulfilled professionals and colleagues. Courtesy of Henry Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 11 9 SECTION III abilities and to be more responsive to the diverse needs of your mentees. Five strategies for effectively addressing graduate students’ diverse needs Good mentoring rarely just “happens.” It develops from reflection, planning, and an understanding of your unique qualities as a mentor. It also develops out of knowledge of the demographic, cultural, economic, and other factors that influence the kinds of mentoring graduate students need. This section introduces you to several practical strategies to improve your own mentoring 10 12 1. Develop your own vision of good mentoring To develop your own vision for effective mentoring, reflect on your days as a graduate student and answer with candor the following questions: ■ ■ Engage students in ongoing conversations ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ What kind of mentoring did I receive? How did it compare to the mentoring received by students who were different from me in race, gender, age, ability, or family background? What did I find helpful and unhelpful about the mentoring I received? How well would the mentoring I received apply to the graduate student population today? How well did my mentors help me progress developmentally through my graduate program? How do the people and questions in my field present challenges that differ from when I was in graduate school? How well did my mentors prepare me for my career? What kinds of mentoring did I not receive that would have been helpful to me? ■ ■ A simple “hello” in the hallway makes a difference. Ask students how they are doing with coursework or projects. Let students know they are welcome to talk with you during your office hours. Talk to your mentees at least once a quarter. Reach out to those who seem remote to find out whether it is their cultural way of being respectful or if it is due to social and academic isolation. Share coffee or meals with students away from the office, if you are able, to engage them in informal discussions without office distractions. “The message my mentor sent to me was that I had value enough for her to spend time with me.” “The most important things my mentor did were spending time talking with me and taking an interest in things interesting to me.” Demystify graduate school for students ■ The answers to these questions may help you to define the kind of mentor you want to be and identify the building blocks for developing productive relationships with graduate students. Ultimately, your vision will clarify the expectations you have about mentoring (see Worksheet 2, Mentor expectations, page 41). ■ ■ 2. Embrace the basics of good mentoring There are several ways to recognize good mentoring. UW faculty who have received awards for outstanding mentoring, such as the Marsha L. Landolt Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award, are excellent models. You can benefit from the lessons they have learned by visiting www.grad.washington.edu/mentoring. Advanced graduate students and alumni are also excellent sources of insight into what helps them function optimally in graduate school. One doctoral student we interviewed described excellent mentoring this way: “The best mentor I ever had used to have this motto: ‘My primary responsibility is helping my graduate students build their futures.’” To be an excellent mentor, develop the following behaviors: ■ ■ Obtain the most recent copies of your program’s guidelines and The Graduate School’s Policies & Procedures. Adjust your conversations to the level of students’ understanding. New students may not know certain terminology or what questions to ask. Many are hearing terms such as “qualifying exams” or “prelims” for the first time. Clarify unwritten or vague aspects of your program’s expectations for coursework, comprehensive exams, research, and teaching. Help students grasp the finer points of forming a committee and how to approach a thesis or dissertation. At each stage of the graduate experience, discuss the formal and informal criteria that determine what counts as quality work. Alert students to pitfalls well ahead of time, especially those that may affect funding or graduate standing. “It has been extremely helpful to me to have a mentor who recognized that academic procedures and protocol—everything from how to select classes to how to assemble a panel for a conference —are not familiar territory for a lot of people.” “My mentor has been willing to answer the most basic questions without making me feel foolish for asking them.” H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 11 13 Section III Provide constructive and supportive feedback ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Provide students with forthright assessments of their work. Do not assume they know what you think about their work. Provide timely feedback on students’ work. A delay in responding can create insecurity and hinder their progress. Temper criticism with praise when it is deserved. Remind students that, with your high standards, you intend to help them improve. Avoid assuming that students who fall behind in their work lack commitment. Talk with them to learn what is going on. They may be exhausted or unclear about what to do next, simply dislike a project, or have difficulties with collaborators. In a timely manner, address any problems that pose questions about a student’s ability to complete his or her degree. Putting issues aside may cause more damage later. uous engagement in a student’s professional growth and the ongoing support and encouragement of student’s academic endeavors.” “My professors encouraged me both to publish my work and to participate in conferences. Without their encouragement, I might not have made the effort to accomplish these things.” Foster networks and multiple mentors ■ ■ ■ ■ “I wrote several drafts before he felt I had begun to make a cogent argument, and as painful as that was, I would not have written the dissertation that I did without receiving strong, if just, criticism, but in a compassionate way.” “Honest advice given as gently as possible is something all of us graduate students need.” Suggest others who can help students if there is a need you cannot meet. UW faculty, graduate students, alumni, department staff, retired faculty, and faculty from other universities are rich resources. Introduce students to faculty and other graduate students with complementary interests on campus and at conferences. Help students connect their work with experts in the community (e.g., graduate alumni) who can provide helpful career perspectives. Build a community of scholars by coordinating informal discussion groups, projects, or occasional potluck meals among students who share academic interests. “My co-chair referred me to a faculty member doing related research at UNC at a time when my research was floundering and I really needed additional support. I could not have completed my dissertation were it not for this recommendation.” “My advisors really made a team of their graduate students, having regular meetings and informal parties and get-togethers, working on projects together, and forming interest groups. That Provide encouragement ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ “Mentorship is far more than a one-time conversation about your career plans or a visit to a professor’s home. It is the mentor’s contin- 12 14 Kathy Sauber Encourage students to discuss their ideas, even those they fear might sound naïve. Encourage students to try new techniques and expand their skills. Let students know that mistakes lead to better learning. Share a less-than-successful experience of your own and what it taught you. For example, you might show students a heavily critiqued paper you submitted in graduate school or to a journal. Reassure students of their skills and abilities to succeed. Many experience anxiety about whether they belong in graduate school (e.g., the “imposter syndrome”). Let students know that even seasoned professionals experience anxiety at times. Teach students how to break large scholarly tasks into smaller, more manageable ones to avoid becoming overwhelmed. F i ve s t ra t e g i e s f o r e f f e c t i ve l y a d d re s s i n g g ra d u a t e s t u d e n t s ’ d i verse needs comradeship was essential to my academic growth and my sense of having a community.” students are allowed to feel that what they have to say is actually worthwhile, it makes interactions more rewarding.” Look out for students’ interests ■ Provide a personal touch ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Let your students know up front, and in a variety of ways, that you want them to succeed. Create opportunities for students to demonstrate their competencies. For instance, take them to important meetings and conferences or encourage them to make presentations in diverse university settings to gain visibility. Nominate your mentees for high-visibility fellowships, projects, and teaching opportunities when you feel they are sufficiently prepared. Promote students’ research and teaching accomplishments inside and outside your department. Be an advocate for all graduate students. ■ ■ Be open and approachable. Students may need to discuss certain academic and nonacademic issues. Knowing they can come to you and that you will care is particularly helpful to shy students or those from cultural backgrounds different from yours. Help students find creative solutions to their challenges or problems. Familiarize yourself with The Graduate School’s mentoring and professional development resources so you can refer students to multiple avenues of assistance. “Having someone supportive when things go wrong is the difference, in my mind, between an adequate mentor and a great one.” “ few of my professors were always willing and eager to talk with A me about my career interests, professional pursuits, and issues such as juggling career and family. This may not sound like much, but it truly makes a difference.” “My mentor allowed my tasks to grow along with me, offering appropriate opportunities and challenges at each stage of my education.” “I knew that I was not just an ordinary student when she invited me to co-teach. We worked together as colleagues, not as teacher and student.” 3. Know the common concerns of all graduate students Need for role models All graduate students benefit from role models they can admire—professionals whose lives they want to emulate. People usually identify role models based on shared outlook and connections to similar experiences. Because of the composition of faculty at UW, students from historically underrepresented or marginalized groups and women in some disciplines can face greater challenges finding faculty role models who have had experiences similar to their own. Some students convey that they hope to find “someone who looks like me,” “someone who immediately understands my experiences and perspectives,” or “someone whose very presence lets me know I, too, can make it in the academy.” ■ Treat students with respect ■ ■ ■ ■ Minimize interruptions and distractions during meetings with students. A common concern among students is that professors do not provide them their full attention while talking. Be aware of your body language. Avoid looking at your watch while a student is talking. Remember previous conversations with students. Some faculty keep notes on discussions (filing them separately from students’ official records), then review the notes prior to meetings. Tell your students what you learn from them. Such disclosure helps students see themselves as potential colleagues. Acknowledge the prior skills and valuable personal, professional, and educational experiences students bring to graduate school. “She treated me and her other students with respect—respect for our opinions, our independence, and our visions of what we wanted to get from graduate school.” “It sounds silly but the best thing my mentor did for me was to actually sit down and listen to what I had to say. When graduate ■ ■ If the composition of faculty and graduate students in your department is homogenous, help identify and recruit new members who represent diverse backgrounds. Hold departmental discussions on how to provide educational and work climates that welcome contributions from all members. Become familiar with people across the University or at other universities who can help your mentees. H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 13 15 Section III Mary Levin ■ Know that you can provide excellent mentoring to students of different gender, race, or culture from you. What is most important is focusing on what students need in order to learn and accomplish their goals. Questioning the canons To do adventuresome academic work, students need to question the implicit assumptions and ways of knowing in their disciplines. Indeed, this very questioning is often what helps academic disciplines evolve. Sometimes students find that their perspectives or intellectual interests do not fit neatly into the current academic canons. For instance, interest in interdisciplinary questions and in the social applications of knowledge is growing, but many students find that the structure of their department makes it difficult for them to pursue research and teaching questions across disciplinary boundaries. Studies suggest that underrepresented students experience this disjuncture more keenly; however, majority students face the chasm as well. Productive scholarly environments value new ways of thinking and encourage students to explore, and possibly challenge, different models of inquiry. ■ Listen to students’ experiences and perspectives. Ask them to share scholarly articles or essays that illustrate the work they would like to do. ■ Identify content that is traditionally excluded or marginalized in your field and expand the boundaries of your discipline by addressing it. ■ Help your students learn about the many interdisciplinary communities of scholars that exist on campus. http:// www.washington.edu/home/departments/labs-centers.html and http://www.grad.washington.edu/Acad/interdisc_network/ InterdisNetwork.htm ■ Foster ongoing departmental discussions on how disciplinary and interdisciplinary theory and methodology are changing because of the inclusion of more diverse content, approaches, and perspectives. 14 16 F i ve s t ra t e g i e s f o r e f f e c t i ve l y a d d re s s i n g g ra d u a t e s t u d e n t s ’ d i verse needs Fear of being categorized as a “single-issue” scholar Some students, whether minority or majority, are concerned that if they select questions of gender, race, sexual orientation, or the content of marginalized cultures as thesis/dissertation topics, faculty will mistakenly assume they are interested in pursuing only these topics for their entire career, or will question the relevance of their work. If your students are passionate about such questions in their research and teaching, help them bolster the scholarliness of their agenda: ■ Ask students what their research interests are rather than assume that their interests are driven only by personal characteristics. ■ Find out what motivates your students. Then, help them learn how to use sound disciplinary concepts and theories to frame the issues that drive their intellectual curiosity. ■ Discuss with your students how race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and other characteristics expand the types of questions asked in your discipline and the tools used for answering them. ■ Help students practice job talks and interview responses that illustrate the depth and breadth of their research interests. ■ Encourage students to anticipate skeptics’ responses to their topics and to plan ahead for addressing them. professional associations, and The Graduate School’s varied resources. (www.grad.washington.edu/mentoring) Burden of being a spokesperson It is unfair to assume that any single student can speak representatively for the experiences or beliefs of a whole group. When certain issues arise in seminars or theoretical discussions, especially those of race, class, or gender, the pressures of being a spokesperson arise, which tend to burden underrepresented students more than others, although any student can feel this pressure. Consider the burden placed on a female student in an engineering seminar if asked, “how would a woman approach this design problem?” Or, for that matter, the burden on a male graduate student, white or not, in a feminist theory class if asked to provide “the male view” on an intellectual topic. ■ Avoid assuming that the “white, male” experience is the norm. Understand how race, gender, and other characteristics influence, but do not predetermine, your students’ perspectives on intellectual problems or issues. ■ Avoid asking students to speak as spokespersons for the group to which you perceive they belong. Simply ask for their perspective. ■ When you hear students voluntarily taking on spokesperson roles, acknowledge what you have gained from their contributions to the discussion. Feelings of isolation Graduate study can be an isolating endeavor. Isolation from other students or from one’s community leads students to loneliness and self-doubt. In more severe cases, isolation can lead to depression or dropping out. Students from historically underrepresented groups can feel particularly isolated or alienated if their department’s composition is highly homogenous. ■ Encourage students to attend departmental functions and form study or writing groups. ■ Be aware of students who seem to experience difficulty taking active roles in departmental settings and find ways to include them. Ask them about their research interests, hobbies, activities, and avocations. ■ Introduce your students to others with complementary interests, regardless of their background. ■ Remind students of the wealth of organizations on and off campus that provide a sense of community, e.g., cultural and religious groups, reading groups, Balancing work and lifestyle Students from all disciplines observe their professors devoting large parts of their lives to their work in order to find success in the academy, and can feel overwhelmed if they feel expected to spend every waking minute on their studies. This perception causes concerns for students who seek to balance success in their graduate career with other responsibilities, such as family or outside work. To help your students deal with these pressures: ■ Demonstrate to students that you value each dimension of your life. Be open to bringing up your interests and hobbies. Share your thoughts about the benefits of balancing work and life to refresh and regroup. ■ Offer your students tips on managing time wisely and help them understand that large tasks can be broken down into more time manageable components. ■ Recognize that students work hard to balance school and home demands. Those with family responsibilities H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 15 17 ■ are not able to spend as many hours on campus as other students, but often can be better focused when they are there. Learn something about the demands your students face beyond the department. If you sense that a student is encountering difficulties, listen first and offer ideas for solutions. Or, guide the student to appropriate campus resources. 4. Understand the diverse factors that influence students’ mentoring needs At The Graduate School we believe that a graduate student population diverse in its origins, beliefs, lifestyles, experiences, and intellectual perspectives greatly enriches the scholarly, economic, and cultural functions of the University. In particular, we are committed to enhancing the presence and mentoring of students from historically underrepresented or marginalized populations with the knowledge that these improvements will benefit the entire graduate student body and make the University a more democratic community. The purpose of this subsection is to help you become more knowledgeable about many factors that shape the graduate experience and thus students’ mentoring needs. No two students experience advanced study in exactly the same way. Even students with similar backgrounds and personal characteristics can experience very different challenges. Conversely, some students of very different backgrounds might share similar concerns, such as presenting papers, or publishing research, or searching for jobs. Thus, rather than assume that students are members of discrete groups, we have chosen to discuss gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, race and ethnicity, disabilities, age, prior work experience and career aspirations, family responsibilities, and socioeconomic background as important factors that influence (but do not determine) the graduate experience. Recommendations for improving mentoring with your students are general enough to apply to all fields, although we attempt to draw disciplinary distinctions where pertinent. Yangjiang Zhang 16 18 F i ve s t ra t e g i e s f o r e f f e c t i ve l y a d d re s s i n g g ra d u a t e s t u d e n t s ’ d i verse needs gender GENDER Women are as ambitious as men in pursuing a successful graduate career. Women and men demonstrate ambition in their day-to-day persistence, interest, and intellectual contributions, which are changing the face of graduate education. Even though the graduate community is more enlightened than ever before about the benefits of having both genders well-represented in our teaching and research, we are still working to transform the traditionally “malecentered” structure of advanced study. When sexism and other unconscious biases surface, women graduate students experience the negative effects more pointedly, although men also report negative effects. For this reason, while students share many of the same concerns about academic interactions, women express some concerns that differ from those of men. Assertiveness. The unspoken code in graduate education Mary Levin is that, aside from being intelligent, those who assert themselves in classroom discussions or conference presentations attain success. Many women and racialized minorities, and even international students, express concern about difficulties they experience making their contributions heard. For example, in classroom discussions, women have noted that to contribute an idea, often they have to interrupt another student. They tend to see interjecting themselves in this manner as rude and disrespectful, yet fear that professors and peers will wrongly attribute their lack of participation to having no ideas at all. Many women report that when they do assert their ideas strongly, they feel subjected to criticism in a way that their male counterparts are not—even though the assertive behavior is the same. Competitiveness. Research has shown that an overly Importance of positive feedback. Many students competitive and critical atmosphere in graduate programs can alienate minority students, and that women, in particular, feel such alienation more intensely. There is no doubt that women are capable of providing insightful criticisms of others’ work when warranted. But some interpret student behavior that is overly critical as an attempt to appear intellectually superior, and thus as a form of insecurity. Women, and indeed increasingly students in general, lament that the system does not reward praising the contributions of other scholars. More opportunities for collaborative work would help balance the competitive culture of graduate school. desire to receive frequent constructive feedback on their work. Although lack of feedback is problematic in its own right, the lack of constructive feedback can lead students to doubt their capabilities. Women tend to attribute negative experiences they have in graduate school to personal deficiencies, while men tend to attribute them to insufficient guidance or problems within the department. Regarding their mentor’s personal style, men are more content than women with mentors who, even though they may be impersonal, offer solid instrumental advice. Women may interpret a professor’s distance as an indication that he or she has a negative opinion of them. Studies suggest that all of these nuances hold true for racialized minorities as well. Recommendations ■ ■ Set ground rules with your students for group discussions in your courses or labs, and explain how your expectations for participation will advance students’ learning goals. Experiment with ways of preventing a few students from dominating your seminars. For example, encourage students who have participated once in discussion to wait until others have had a chance to talk before contributing again. H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 17 19 Section III ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Avoid calling on male or female graduate students to be spokespersons for their gender. Invite students to offer their perspectives, and, if appropriate, ask them to share how they think gender may or may not influence them. Adjust the tenor of discussions that become overly critical. Remind students that it is always easier to criticize a work than to produce one, and follow up with: “What contributions does this particular piece make?” Acknowledge multiple forms of participation, e.g., group or pair work, e-mail discussions or discussion boards, journal comments, informal discussions, and office hours. Some students contribute better in small groups. Be aware of how discussion groups form in your seminars and determine ways to intervene if students become excluded or marginalized. Make sure graduate students know how to contact a departmental and Graduate School representative if they feel they are being treated in ways that negatively impact their work. Use concrete language to convey feedback on students’ work. Saying “this paragraph exposes the research problem succinctly, but leaves out one important point” is clearer than “this is not bad” or “I don’t have any major problems with it.” Ambiguous feedback hinders students’ performance. Resources www.grad.washington.edu/mentoring Center for Instructional Development and Research offers consulting and workshops on how to make learning environments and mentoring more inclusive. 206-543-6588 Center for Workforce Development provides graduate student mentorship and resources geared towards women pursuing careers in the sciences and engineering. 206-543-4810 Center for Curriculum Transformation assists individual faculty and academic departments with curriculum change related to gender and cultural pluralism. 206-685-8276 Mary Levin 20 18 F i ve s t ra t e g i e s f o r e f f e c t i ve l y a d d re s s i n g g ra d u a t e s t u d e n t s ’ d i verse needs sexual orientation SEXUAL ORIENTATION& GENDER IDENTITY Many gay, bisexual, lesbian, and transgender (GBLT) students are part of our community. Unlike other underrepresented students, many GBLT students are “invisible” because sexual orientation has no defining physical characteristics and because many may have chosen not to be “out.” Some students do talk about their sexual orientation openly. Regardless of your sexual orientation, your goal as a mentor is to maximize learning and professional opportunities for all of your mentees. You can help your academic community eliminate or be more aware of the following: Homophobia. Even within a fairly accepting educational Recommendations ■ ■ ■ climate, GBLT students convey that they encounter homophobia around campus and in the classroom, whether as students or as teaching assistants. Behaviors can range from the blatantly offensive, such as verbal or physical threats or attacks, to the less obvious, such as the casual remark “that is so gay” in classroom or hallway conversations. Heterosexism. Many professors and students discuss ■ topics with the unconscious assumption that everyone is heterosexual. Straight faculty and students who have developed some heightened awareness of gender issues on campus might still tend to think about the world from a heterosexual perspective. As a result, GBLT students can find their experiences and perspectives missing in research or discussions, and that absence can lead students to feel isolated from opportunities for intellectual engagement. Genderism. Similarly, many people on campus assume ■ ■ ■ Assume that GBLT students are present in every classroom, lab, seminar, or campus meeting in which you participate and that they might not feel safe being “out.” Establish standards for language use and communication when you interact with graduate students. Convey that your goal in doing so is to ensure an environment that is conducive to effective learning and achievement. Avoid using examples that are exclusive to heterosexual experiences. For example, when talking about families, avoid talking as if every family were composed of a husband, wife, and children. Words like “spouse and partner” instead of just “spouse” or “husband” or “wife” go a long way in assuring that GBLT students and students who are single are represented in discussions. Ask students whom you know are “out” to discuss with you how best to address their learning and professional needs. Ask them if they are willing to foster discussions about how sexual orientation in academic settings can be handled productively. Realize that your mentoring is more effective if you develop sensitivity to sexual orientation as a multidimensional phenomenon. That is, homosexuality is only one of several expressions of sexual orientation. Discuss how discriminatory remarks impede the learning process, not only of GBLT students but of all students. Encourage your department to put GBLT concerns on the agenda of graduate student orientations and faculty and staff training programs. that all individuals identify fully with the gender in which they were raised. Genderism is the assumption that male and female assignments of gender are fixed at birth. This is not the case for every person. Gender biases in classrooms and departments (e.g., saying “it” to refer to individuals of ambiguous gender; gendered bathrooms) are oppressive to individuals who feel the need to alter their gender identity. Disclosing. Being “out” as a GBLT student is not a one- Resources www.grad.washington.edu/mentoring ASUW Gay, Bisexual, Lesbian, Transgender Commission offers programs regarding issues of sexual orientation. 206-685-GBLC (4252) Affirming Diversity: Moving from Tolerance to Acceptance and Beyond, a presidential task force report on GBLT issues, suggests ways to improve campus climate, student resources, and policies. Q Center is a resource for classroom speakers, research, and information on Queer issues. 206-897-1430 BOHGOF is a support network for graduate sexual minorities. bohgofs@u.washington.edu time event, but rather a decision experienced in each new social situation. With each new interaction comes the burden of having to assess the personal, social, and political ramifications of disclosing one’s sexual orientation. Heterosexual students do not bear this weight when interacting with peers and professors. H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 19 21 Section III race and ethnicity RACE AND ETHNICITY Race and ethnicity are important factors that shape faculty and student experiences on campus. Although the racial and ethnic diversity of the UW graduate student population has been increasing slowly but steadily over the last 20 years, the campus community as a whole remains relatively homogenous. One reason is that efforts to enhance the pipeline of students at primary and secondary levels preparing for higher education have been well-meaning, but sporadic and limited. Another reason is that disciplinary programs are still learning how to expand their prospective graduate student outreach efforts. Thus minority students can feel marginalized, not only in the student population but in how research problems and curricula reflect, or fail to reflect, their scholarly influence, experiences, and educational goals. Stereotypes still exist on campus, and there is a great need to eliminate unexamined assumptions. We need more role models of faculty and students who engage in multicultural scholarship, research, and teaching so as to make diversity awareness and support structures in graduate training more explicit. Role models. As mentioned earlier, when students enter Stereotypes are particularly burdensome to students of color, not least because many have worked hard to overcome significant barriers to get to graduate school. A stereotype that students of color worry about is whether other graduate students and faculty will have low expectations of them. White faculty and peers may unwittingly avoid reaching out to, or worse, end up discouraging students of color in seminar or lab interactions. This stereotype makes minority students feel unnecessarily awkward when seeking advice and guidance. Another harmful stereotype is that “all ethnic minorities are alike” or have the same goals for graduate school and experience the same challenges. The lumping together of outlooks or abilities creates an environment that compromises collegial interaction and undermines students’ individual needs and talents. Lack of an explicit support system. At least two kinds the large, complex structure of a research university, they can experience feelings of isolation or become overwhelmed. One of the first things students do, is seek out people with whom they can identify in order to temper those feelings. This search can be especially challenging for students of color because the dearth of minority faculty, and of white faculty who resonate with their academic and sociocultural experiences, makes it difficult to find an advisor or mentor in their fields. It is not the case that ethnic minorities want only other ethnic minorities as professors and mentors. Rather, they seek to find affinity with role models who have “paved the way,” who work through the dissonances between their home communities and the academic community, and who can help students do the same. Mentors who can assist with these challenges enable students to see pathways towards their own futures more clearly. When one of the few faculty of color leaves the UW for another university, minority students can feel the impact— it often means the loss of a potential supporter of their work. Stereotyping. Stereotypes still exist on campus and of support are necessary for students, and in particular students of color, to succeed. The first is sufficient financial support and the second is environmental support, including mentoring and networking. It is dangerous for departments to assume that students automatically “know” how to navigate the system or pursue support, such as through grant writing, locating assistantships, and establishing networks with potential mentors. Traditionally marginalized students in higher education may have fewer direct channels to such sources of assistance. If workshops on these issues are not offered regularly in departments, or not publicized well, then opportunities remain hidden and students miss out on identifying resources to invest in their long-term success. Exclusion from support networks. Underrepresented students on fellowships often are inadvertently overlooked for teaching and research assistantships. As a result, they experience fewer opportunities for collegial, career-building interactions with faculty and peers who may be student instructors or research assistants. They also miss out on how teaching and research assignments can enhance graduate training and strengthen their curriculum vitae. Recommendations ■ there is a great need to eliminate unexamined assumptions. Reflect on how you have been socialized to think about race and ethnicity and make efforts to increase your awareness, socially and academically. For example, 20 22 F i ve s t ra t e g i e s f o r e f f e c t i ve l y a d d re s s i n g g ra d u a t e s t u d e n t s ’ d i verse needs ■ ■ ■ ■ attend some of the numerous diversity forums on campus each year, and bring ideas for community building back to your department. Inform yourself about scholarly advances in your discipline resulting from the inclusion of multicultural research and perspectives. Think about the challenges these advances pose to your discipline and to scholars. Become a role model for students of color, regardless of your ethnic background. Learning more about minority students’ needs will enable you to carry out this role. Also, build more explicit connections to faculty of color in or outside your department and expose your students to their work and ideas. Seek, first and foremost, to understand students’ individual needs. Students from different race and ethnic groups face issues and experiences differently than white students. At the same time, avoid assuming that all students from a given racial or ethnic group have the same perspectives or needs. Be aware of negative classroom dynamics and the ways they may affect the experiences of all students. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Explicitly recognize each minority student’s unique strengths and scholarly promise. Talk to students about their strengths and help them improve in other areas. Offer minority students a breadth of possibilities for scholarly interactions: leading discussions, collaborating on projects, designing workshops, and presenting research at campus forums or disciplinary meetings. This allows students to show their strengths and learn new skills. Make sure your department offers at least one workshop per quarter on financial support, mentoring, community building, success strategies, and other issues of importance to all students, particularly those of color. Use e-mail, newsletters, or posters to publicize The Graduate School’s and other units’ helpful resources. Help your department create a policy of providing varied and developmental assistantships to all graduate students, including students of color on fellowships. Broad exposure to different kinds of academic work is just as important as deep exposure to a research problem. Use informal assignments to broaden graduate students’ experience, such as being student representatives in Courtesy of the Henry Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 21 23 ■ ■ policy, curricular, and faculty meetings, or leading various writing, research, or teaching groups. Familiarize yourself with minority colleagues and white faculty both in and outside your department who may help extend all students’ networks. Learn about national networks for underrepresented minorities in your discipline and participate in them. Resources www.grad.washington.edu/mentoring Center for Instructional Development and Research offers web and print resources on inclusive teaching and assistance with workshops. 206-543-6588 Center for Multicultural Education focuses on research projects, activities, and services designed to improve practice related to equity issues, intergroup relations, and the achievement of students of color. 206-543-3386 Center for Curriculum Transformation helps individual faculty and departments to address cultural pluralism in the academic curriculum. 206-685-8276 Ethnic Cultural Center promotes diversity, cross-cultural exchange, lectures, and learning beyond the classroom for graduate and undergraduate students. It also provides meeting space and theatre events. 206-543-4635 Graduate Opportunities & Minority Achievement Program (GO-MAP) provides graduate student outreach and recruitment programs, and supports diversity with numerous resources and opportunities. 206-543-9016 Office of Minority Affairs provides outreach and academic support services to ensure a welcoming climate in which all students can realize their full potential. 206-685-0518 Kathy Sauber 22 24 F i ve s t ra t e g i e s f o r e f f e c t i ve l y a d d re s s i n g g ra d u a t e s t u d e n t s ’ d i verse needs disabilities DISABILITIES Students with disabilities have different needs and concerns depending on their type of disability. Disabilities vary greatly; some are visible while others are invisible. There are students with physical disabilities, learning disabilities (such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia), chronic disabilities (such as lupus and multiple sclerosis), and psychological disabilities (such as depression and bipolar disorder). Students’ needs may vary depending on whether they have had a disability since birth or it developed later in life. Given the variety of disabilities, it is important that you work collaboratively with students and the Disability Resources for Students (DRS) office to ensure that you are meeting students’ needs. The DRS office establishes eligibility for disability-related services such as academic adjustments and auxiliary aids for qualified students, and can assist you and your students in determining effective ways to meet disability-related needs in your course or program. The following can affect the mentoring needs of your students with disabilities: Reluctance to ask for help. Some students with Problems that arise from last-minute changes. Changes in reading assignments can be very difficult for students who are blind, visually impaired, or have a learning disability in reading. At the beginning of the quarter, these students may need to request that readings be converted into an alternate format, such as Braille, audiotape, or electronic text that is accessible to them. Conversion often involves a computer screen reader or enlargement with specialized software. So, readings added later in the quarter require students to have new materials converted into an accessible format in a short period of time. It may not be feasible to meet reading deadlines if the conversion process cannot occur quickly enough. Room relocations may also cause hardships for visually impaired students or students with mobility limitations. (Note: Many people with disabilities prefer not to use language such as “physically challenged.”) Recommendations ■ disabilities fear appearing or becoming too dependent if they ask for help. Those whose disabilities are a recent onset, as well as those with invisible disabilities, may be unaccustomed to asking for help. Students also fear being seen as less capable or less competent because of their disabilities or their needs for accommodation. Effort exerted just to keep up. For many students with ■ ■ disabilities, meeting basic course requirements demands much more time and energy than it does for other students. For example, a student with multiple sclerosis may only have a certain number of hours in the day for school and studying before fatigue, vision problems, and cognitive deficits flare up. A student who is hard of hearing and uses a real-time captioner (like a court stenographer) may have to review several pages of notes from the captioner in order to create suitable study notes. This process requires much more preparation and study time than that of a student who can take notes in class. Some students find they cannot participate in professional activities as much as they would like (such as submitting papers for conferences) because they need to devote all their time and energy to meeting the demands of their programs. ■ ■ ■ ■ Assume that there are students with disabilities, including invisible disabilities, among your graduate students. If you have a student in a wheelchair, know whether your office, lab, or seminar room is accessible. If not, work with the student and DRS to determine what accommodations will ensure equal access. Be explicit in your seminars and on your syllabus that you want students with disabilities to contact you as soon as possible about accommodations they may need. Be sure they know how best to contact you. Put your syllabus together as early as possible so that students with disabilities who need a head start on readings, or need reading materials converted, can do so. Mark which readings are required or optional, those of highest priority, and the due date for all reading assignments. Write an outline on the board for each class so that students with learning disabilities can follow the larger context of the learning goals that day. Plan creative group exercises so that students with various kinds of disabilities can participate and accomplish the exercises. Be as flexible as possible with deadlines. Students with disabilities do not want requirements lowered for them, but may need additional time to complete tasks. H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 23 25 Section III ■ ■ ■ ■ Develop accommodations for missed seminars and meetings in advance and communicate them clearly. Focus on your students’ abilities, not their disabilities. Do not hesitate to ask a student with a disability if she or he needs assistance. If you suspect a student might have a disability, or you are not sure how to meet the needs of a student with a disability, contact DRS. Resources http://www.grad.washington.edu/mentoring Disability Resources for Students (DRS) establishes a student’s eligibility for disability accommodations and works collaboratively with faculty and staff to coordinate and implement these accommodations. DRS is a resource for students, faculty, and staff regarding the provision of equal access for students with disabilities in all aspects of campus life. DRS provides knowledgeable guidance and consultation and is a resource for publications on disability-related subject matter. 206-543-8924 (V/TTY) DO-IT Program (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology) provides resources for disabled students in engineering and the sciences to help increase independence, productivity, and participation in education and employment. Though directed primarily to undergraduates, graduate students may find helpful information too, or they can volunteer to mentor younger students. 206-685-DOIT (3648) (V/TTY) Kathy Sauber 26 24 F i ve s t ra t e g i e s f o r e f f e c t i ve l y a d d re s s i n g g ra d u a t e s t u d e n t s ’ d i verse needs another country BEING FROM ANOTHER COUNTRY Students who seek to attend graduate school in the US recognize the many advantages of our graduate education system and arrive with appreciation and energy to accomplish great things with their faculty and peers. At the same time, international students take on a significant set of challenges in addition to meeting degree requirements. These challenges go beyond adjusting to living, learning, and working in a foreign language, and vary depending on the background of the student—that is, whether he or she is new to graduate study in the US or already has experience in this system. Your approach to mentoring needs to recognize that no matter whether your graduate students are from China or Canada, they are confronting new cultural, educational, and social norms. Language and culture in the classroom. Despite They discover that policies in graduate departments can be quite different from those in their home institutions, or are opaque or difficult to interpret. For instance, some may find it initially hard to understand why they can accept teaching or research assistantship “work” but are not permitted to work off-campus. On a subtler note, international students rely on different assumptions about how faculty members and graduate students should relate to each other. Many East Asian graduate students, for example, have reported sensing a kind of interpersonal “coldness” from some US faculty who, while informal and jovial with students during seminars, might remain distant regarding students’ personal or family lives. In other countries, the faculty-graduate student relationship often extends beyond academic discussions and may include various types of nonacademic interactions. Social stresses. In moving far away from families and their many achievements, international students can feel their competence diminished in the early stages of their graduate programs. Linguistic proficiency and lack of awareness of how the US academic system works may be initial hurdles to overcome in getting a research or teaching assignment underway. In addition, most international students have been socialized into different kinds of collaborative or classroom communication patterns. For instance, in the educational systems of East and Southeast Asia, the student’s role is assumed to be a more passive one in interactions with professors, whose authority goes unquestioned. Thus, some international students are surprised to encounter US students speaking up without being called upon, or challenging their professors’ remarks. Further, behavior in graduate seminars can seem unnecessarily competitive to international students, who fear that if they do not exhibit these same behaviors, professors will judge them less capable or intelligent. Lastly, many international graduate students come from countries in which only a small percentage of high school graduates is admitted to university, so the different level of preparation of first-year undergraduates in the US can be a new challenge for international teaching assistants. The rules of the academic game. When international friends, international students can feel a great sense of displacement. Those who are new to the US, and who bring their partners and children with them, worry about how well their families will adjust to American life. Even for students from countries with large numbers of fellow nationals at the UW, uncertainties about how to socialize with Americans can raise stress levels. After a while, some students may begin to wonder how they will be accepted upon returning home with different dress, talk, and behavior. In essence, they worry about being foreigners in their own countries. Recommendations ■ ■ graduate students arrive on campus, they need to demystify three cultures: the US culture, the culture of the research university, and the academic culture in their department. ■ Help international students acclimate to your seminars by occasionally calling on them to participate in discussion. Assure them, especially those who are the most quiet, that you are stimulating dialogue and not singling them out. Some students have a hard time, at first, jumping into animated discussions. Reserve extra time outside of seminars or labs to interact with international students. Ask them about their research and outside interests, their families, how they are adjusting, and what education is like in their home countries. In this way, you help them know that you are concerned about their personal as well as academic well being. Realize that not all international students have difficulties with English; many of them were trained in H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 25 27 Section III ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ English-speaking institutions, and for others, English is their first language. By the same token, avoid assuming that if an international student speaks English well, he or she does not experience cultural dissonance or confusion about how US education works. Offer a variety of ways for international students to meet with you: in person, by e-mail, phone, scheduled office hours, or group meetings. This variety enables students with different levels of linguistic competence to choose how to communicate with you comfortably. Make it a point to introduce new international graduate students to more advanced international students, and to US graduate students with international experience. This enlarges new students’ networks. Be aware that the rules governing graduate studies and funding in the US may be different from those in other countries. Most students have a single-country visa that prohibits them from traveling. They also cannot work for pay, except for TA and RA positions, and are excluded from many US-based fellowships. If you have questions about your program’s requirements, speak with your graduate program coordinator or department chair. If you have questions about your students’ travel or work, contact the International Services Office. If you have ever traveled to another country, recall how you had to rely on others’ assistance to acclimate to the language and customs. Offer international students the same courtesies you found helpful. visitors, and scholars with the Puget Sound community and provides opportunities for cross-cultural friendship and events. 206-543-0735 Resources http://www.grad.washington.edu/mentoring International Services Office addresses a range of issues for international students and provides one-on-one assistance. 206-543-0841 International Teaching Assistant Program, in the Center for Instructional Development and Research, provides workshops and individual consultations to help prepare international students for roles as graduate teaching assistants. 206-543-6588 Foundation for International Understanding through Students (FIUTS) links UW international students, 28 26 Kathy Sauber F i ve s t ra t e g i e s f o r e f f e c t i ve l y a d d re s s i n g g ra d u a t e s t u d e n t s ’ d i verse needs age AGE Older students, or “the chronologically advantaged,” can be more focused and aware of their goals for graduate school than their younger colleagues. Their maturity is an especially strong asset because they are usually not intimidated by the prospect of engaging in discussions with you, and their life experience means they are familiar with complex problems and independent thinking. Even with these important advantages, older students often face challenges that are less common among younger students. Fear of having “rusty” skills. Older students, especially Awkwardness with faculty. Because of their maturity, some older students are close in age or even older than their professors. Some may worry that their professors are more accustomed to interacting with younger students. Recommendations ■ ■ if they have been in the workforce for several years, might worry about how they compare to their younger counterparts. For example, younger students or those who were recently undergraduates may be more up-to-date in the discipline or possess more experience with recent educational computing technologies than those who have been away from the university environment. Devaluation of life experiences. Many older students ■ ■ ■ pursue graduate school after spending a considerable number of years running a business, leading developments in industry or the public sector, or raising a family. One of the most serious issues they face is learning that their hardwon, “real-life” knowledge is sometimes devalued during the graduate experience. This can be particularly frustrating when older students’ vast array of experiences contradicts the research or theory they are studying. Invisibility in the classroom. Older students commonly ■ Value older students’ knowledge by asking how their life experiences inform their graduate scholarship. Link theory and practice so that all graduate students can understand how information learned in their program transfers to the world outside. Explore the disconnects between theory and practice that arise for your students. Older students welcome opportunities to use their experience as a resource and to test their assumptions as they grow as scholars. Welcome the contributions older students make by occasionally asking them to lead discussion groups. Develop ways to ensure that older students are integrated into work groups or teams so that they do not end up always working with other older students. Include older students in out-of-class study and writing groups. Resources http://www.grad.washington.edu/mentoring Women’s Center, Re-entry Program, offers free referrals, assistance, and financial information to women and men returning to university education. 206-685-1090 UW Computer Training offers a variety of free and low-cost computer training opportunities to all students, staff, and faculty. 206-685-2763 The Center for Social Science Computation and Research offers all students computer training for academic and discipline-specific purposes. 206-543-8110 describe how bad they feel when a professor refers to an event or popular film from many years ago and then says to the entire class, “And of course none of you would remember that.” Although not intended to be harmful, this kind of remark makes older students feel overlooked. Isolation from fellow students. Because of the age differences between them and their peers, older graduate students may feel socially isolated. Many older students prefer to socialize in environments different from those of younger students. Also, although friendships can and do develop with younger colleagues, older students are aware that some of them may be the same age as their own children. H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 27 29 Section III family FAMILY RESPONSIBILITIES As the graduate student population increases in age, so do family responsibilities, such as raising children (whether with a partner or single) or becoming the primary caregiver for elderly parents or relatives. These students find that the structure of graduate education in a large research university presumes an ability to be on campus at any time, which can conflict with their other responsibilities. Dual commitments. Students with family responsibilities from attending seminars or meetings and can exacerbate that misperception. Even after a child enters school, childcare demands do not necessarily lessen. Other demands arise, such as picking up and dropping off children at school functions. Isolation. Students with family responsibilities might find are committed to being successful academically. Therefore, they are often highly organized and intensely focused during the blocks of time they carve out for their graduate work. Unfortunately, students may fear that their professors may misconstrue attention to their other responsibilities as a lack of commitment to scholarship. Emergencies, such as an ill child or parent, occasionally prevent students with families it difficult to attend as many social, academic, and professional functions as other students. They may experience isolation from their cohorts and departments, missing out on the “academic business” that takes place in those settings. Time constraints. Students with family responsibilities often need to be home in the evenings to tend to those in their care. For this reason, study group assignments or Joel Levin 30 28 F i ve s t ra t e g i e s f o r e f f e c t i ve l y a d d re s s i n g g ra d u a t e s t u d e n t s ’ d i verse needs research projects that necessitate meeting in the evening present serious difficulties, as can having to return campus for evening lectures or departmental meetings. Cultural differences. Cultural beliefs influence the Recommendations ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Develop accommodations for students with family responsibilities who might need to miss some seminars. Distribute assignments well in advance so students can fit them into demanding schedules. Because some students must set aside significant time for their families on weekends, you are not providing enough advance notice if you assign work on Thursday and say it is due on Monday. Identify ways to accommodate students’ requests to work in groups that meet during the day. Encourage students to explore e-mail, listservs, and discussion boards to facilitate group work. To learn about such tools, consult Computing and Communications, or Catalyst for resources and support in teaching with new technologies. Discuss your own family responsibilities with your graduate students. If you have children, bring them to the office or to departmental social events now and then. Doing so reinforces the fact that it is possible to have a family and a successful academic career. Plan some departmental, family-friendly social events. Pick a time of day when families can attend, and be sure the invitation states specifically that children are welcome. Avoid the misperception that students with family responsibilities are not committed to their programs. Let students demonstrate professional commitment and productivity in different ways. Acknowledge the Courtesy of the Cascade Center, Evans School of Public Affairs ■ ways students deal with family responsibilities while in graduate school. For example, during the mourning of a family member, some students may be expected to spend a considerable amount of time consoling relatives at home. Mentors can help students explain to other faculty the need for participating in family activities different from mainstream practices. great amount of organization, commitment, and passion needed to “do it all and do it well.” Help students to communicate how a graduate degree can bring long-term benefits to them and their families. Resources http://www.grad.washington.edu/mentoring Childcare Assistance Program for Students offers a childcare subsidy program. To be eligible for funding, students need to demonstrate financial need and must use licensed childcare. Contact Childcare Assistance Program for Students. 206-543-1041 or the Office of Student Financial Aid 206-543-6101 Work/Life Office can help UW students find child care or elder care. 206-543-6963 Housing and Food Services or the Family Housing web pages can be of assistance. 206-543-4059 H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 29 31 Section III prior work Regardless of their reasons for pursuing advanced studies, students enter graduate school today with more experience and more diverse career aspirations than ever before. Today, it is common for many graduate students to have had one or more career-track jobs before beginning advanced study. Often it is prior work experience itself that sparks a person’s decision to pursue a graduate degree, either for advancing in a current profession or entering a new one. Thus, when “real world” perspectives or examples are not valued by professors, some students can feel especially disappointed. Many graduate students want recognition for their prior work experience, especially if those experiences were as teachers or practitioners in a field that they are now researching. PRIOR WORK EXPERIENCE AND CAREER ASPIRATIONS ■ Help students pursue a healthy balance of professional development opportunities such as research assistantships, teaching assistantships, and special leadership opportunities, such as university or student committees. Whatever their ultimate career choice, your mentees will benefit greatly by learning how their skills apply in multiple arenas. Resources http://www.grad.washington.edu/mentoring Center for Career Services supports students in exploring a variety of career options and employment services. 206-543-0535 Center for Workforce Development provides graduate student mentoring programs geared towards women pursuing careers in science and engineering. 206-543-4810 Preparing Future Faculty Program helps graduate students observe and experience a full range of faculty roles and responsibilities. 206-543-9054 Re-envisioning the PhD is an online collection of resources for graduate students pursing a variety of careers and professional development opportunities. Recommendations ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Understand that graduate students’ career aspirations vary and their interests may not be the same as those that motivated you to want to become a professor. Ask students about their aspirations and how they expect graduate education to help them achieve their goals. Ask students how their prior work experiences relate to, or have influenced them to pursue, graduate study. Have students write about these understandings and invite them to make periodic observations about how they are developing professionally. Ask students how their current scholarship informs their perspective on prior work experiences. Provide opportunities in seminars or group work for students to link theory and practice. Remind students of the “wisdom of practice” and its importance in scholarly and professional development. Realize that career aspirations may shift several times over the course of students’ degree programs, so be prepared to help your mentees seek out a variety of job opportunities. Tune in to new economic opportunities for “knowledge workers” by periodically checking on the condition of both the academic and nonacademic labor markets in your discipline. Consult your disciplinary association or the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook for current market data and trends. 30 32 Courtesy of the Cascade Center, Evans School of Public Affairs F i ve s t ra t e g i e s f o r e f f e c t i ve l y a d d re s s i n g g ra d u a t e s t u d e n t s ’ d i verse needs disadvantaged DISADVANTAGED SOCIOECONOMIC BACKGROUND Students come to graduate school from a variety of socioeconomic trajectories, determined either by their parents’ educational and occupational circumstances (until the student left home for college), or by their own occupational histories. In recent years, more and more students delay higher education in order to earn and save money, gain professional experience, or support their families. Socioeconomic background is a largely “invisible,” but important factor that influences students’ mentoring needs. If you have mentees who grew up in a blue-collar family; were raised by a single, struggling parent; come from a very large family or a family of low income; or come from rural or inner-city origins, they probably have surmounted considerable obstacles to obtain an education. Often, students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds are the first in their family to complete an undergraduate degree. The fortitude these students develop to persevere and pursue their academic ambitions is a highly desirable quality for successful graduate study. The effects of a disadvantaged background do not stop, however, just because a student has entered graduate school. Students who experienced hardships earlier in life need mentoring that is attentive to their concerns. Economic concerns. Students from working-class backSummer professional opportunities. Students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds often face disrupting their academic training during the summer. Because of financial constraints, many need to seek betterpaying jobs off-campus instead of taking no- or low-pay (but academically relevant) internships. Outside employment temporarily distances students from their studies, and fears of falling behind can set in. Professors who are unaware of their students’ financial situations can inadvertently misconstrue interest in outside employment as a lack of commitment to academic study. Difference in background experiences. Some students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds can find it intimidating to hear about the spring break or summer travels of fellow students. Those in the arts, humanities, and social sciences can feel especially vulnerable knowing that some of their peers have traveled to, or even lived in, the foreign countries they are studying. Disconnection from family and friends. Graduate grounds often do not have family members they can turn to for monetary support throughout graduate school. What’s more, some students carry responsibilities for financially or physically supporting their parents, siblings, or other relatives while obtaining the degree. It is common for these students to feel the need to work additional jobs outside of their department, even if they have graduate appointments or fellowships. Access to professional networks. Graduate students students from disadvantaged backgrounds, like many graduate students, probably have had to move away from their families. Once students become socialized into their disciplines, talking with family members or old friends about academic work can sometimes be difficult. This communication gap can cause students to feel isolated or disconnected because they feel less comfortable in their old worlds but not yet settled into their new worlds. Recommendations ■ from economically disadvantaged backgrounds can experience greater difficulties accessing or creating professional networks in academe. They might not have had as many opportunities to develop these relationships as their peers from more advantaged backgrounds, especially those peers who grew up in academic families. This disparity surfaces most pointedly when students struggle with the costs of traveling to research conferences and the need, each year, to finance travel to professional conferences or to secure summer employment. ■ ■ ■ Be aware that not all students have had the same opportunities to learn how to create networks to support their academic and career goals. Make an extra effort to introduce your students to people you know can help them expand their networks. Be alert to funding opportunities for your students, especially for the summer period, and alert them to opportunities as far in advance as possible so they can plan effectively. Put books or course packets on reserve so that students do not always have to buy their own copies. Enrich the discussions students have with you and with each other by having them share perspectives from a H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 31 33 variety of experiences—travel, study, work, international friends, family stories, etc. 5. Encourage your department to strengthen mentoring Departmental faculty members, chairs, and graduate program coordinators share a collective responsibility to establish and maintain a culture of effective mentoring. While this culture will differ from department to department, there are some common elements of effective mentoring environments. The Graduate School’s web page (www.grad.washington.edu/mentoring) offers resources to help departments improve opportunities for mentoring. Consider implementing the following strategies to help your department optimize its mentoring resources and nurture productive relationships between faculty and graduate students. Resources http://www.grad.washington.edu/mentoring Grants and Funding Information Service (GFIS), UW libraries, offers a user-friendly database, workshops, and individual consultations to help current and admitted graduate students, regardless of economic situation, identify external funding. 206-616-3084 Office of Student Financial Aid can help students secure short-term loans for emergency assistance. Applications are available through My UW’s Personal Services or in person at the Office of Student Financial Aid, 172 Schmitz Hall. 206-543-6101 Graduate School Fund for Excellence and Innovation (GSFEI) provides financial support for departments to recruit top graduate students and make graduate study more feasible. 206-543-5900 Develop a mentoring policy It is wise for departments to construct a policy that focuses on effective mentoring as a core component of the graduatestudent experience. Such a policy is most effective when it emerges from the creative ideas and good will of the faculty, which a few interviews with mentoring focus groups can cultivate. In this way, all members of a department can identify principles of mentoring and agree on how they will institutionalize and reward good practice. Assign a first-year, temporary advisor Assign new students a temporary faculty advisor to help them initiate relationships with faculty during the first year of graduate school. Assignments can be based on shared interests and should require each temporary advisor to meet with advisees at least once a quarter to review any questions or concerns about departmental requirements, course selections, and how well the student is being socialized into department life. Such appointments should focus on ensuring that all students receive quality initial support in a systematic way. These temporary relationships allow students to learn the ropes without having to make premature commitments to a mentor. Later on, students’ choices of long-term mentors or advisors will be better informed and based on the research, teaching, and career interests they are developing. Courtesy of Cherry Cayabyab 32 34 F i ve s t ra t e g i e s f o r e f f e c t i ve l y a d d re s s i n g g ra d u a t e s t u d e n t s ’ d i verse needs Establish peer mentoring In order to facilitate students’ transition to life in graduate school, pair first-year graduate students with more advanced graduate students on the basis of similar interests. Peer mentors can help new students become familiar with departmental culture, strategies for success in the first year, and resources at the University and in Seattle. Departments can support this effort by outlining the basic responsibilities of both peers to each other and to the mentoring process, and making funds available to support regular mentoring activities. Start a faculty-graduate student “brown bag” lunch program. Periodic faculty-graduate student lunches are a great way to help students develop relationships and discover mutual interests with a variety of professors. Lunches can be organized around topics, and departments can circulate professors’ curriculum vitae (or post them on department websites) to help students assess faculty members’ research and teaching programs. Small groups that support individualized attention are most helpful. Create community. Designate a special space, such as Establish multiple mentoring mechanisms Rotate research mentors. Some departments require first- or second-year graduate students to work a certain number of hours per week on a project with a faculty member to receive specific training. The purpose of such experiences is for beginning students to gain exposure to different skills and intellectual problems, not to conduct independent research. Disciplines in the sciences and engineering often take this mechanism a step further by using a rotation system to expose graduate students early on to a range of professors’ specializations. Offer teaching mentors. Departments can assign a a lounge or a conference room, to foster a collegial and inviting atmosphere in which graduate students, faculty, staff, and their families can gather periodically for social opportunities. Use this space to honor the accomplishments of graduate students and faculty, such as publications, research, teaching and mentoring awards, or other professional and personal accolades. Enhance professional socialization. Departments faculty mentor or two to observe TA classes periodically, help TAs progress instructionally, and offer suggestions for improvement. Some departments offer a special course for graduate students working as TAs. Faculty instructors lead group discussions on topics such as pedagogical issues, general or discipline-specific instructional techniques, and curriculum development. Connect with your graduate alumni. Your master’s can do many things to help faculty mentors nurture the professional development of their graduate students. Invite students to participate on departmental committees, including hiring and admissions committees. Create formal opportunities for graduate students to present their teaching or research at departmental seminars or brown bags, and increase opportunities for practicing public speaking skills. Assigning one or two faculty members to provide students with constructive feedback increases the value of that feedback. Alumni speaker series, which celebrate the varied accomplishments of master’s and doctoral alumni, are very effective for helping students network as well as construct ambitious yet realistic visions of their professional pathways. and PhD alumni are prominent professionals in their fields with many resources, ideas, and energies to “give back” to your department and to current graduate students. Many UW departments have been instituting mechanisms to reconnect with their graduate alumni in meaningful ways. Through speaker panels, alumni can share their vision of career prospects in academe, the public sector, and private industry. Through interactive workshops, alumni can help students explore the realities of a faculty career in different institutional contexts, or learn how to make disciplinary and intellectual skills marketable in various employment sectors. And, finally, reward effective mentoring! Departments that create rewards for excellent mentorship are usually in the best position to help their faculty turn good principles into action. For example, during reviews for merit increases, departments can take into account the quality and quantity of mentoring by asking faculty to document this information in their portfolio. Departments can also ask graduate students to assess their mentors. Another way to reward good mentors is to factor in teaching credits for faculty who have heavy mentoring responsibilities. H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 33 35 SECTION IV Getting the journey started on the educational needs of students. relationship. Mentoring relationships work best when all parties involved clarify expectations and focus This section offers you strategies to get the mentoring journey started with graduate students. It suggests topics to address early in your meetings and ways to clarify mutual expectations. The final segment synthesizes timeless advice to give your graduate students throughout your 34 36 Conduct initial meetings with students’ interests in mind Early in your mentoring relationship, encourage students to do a self-appraisal to better assess their own needs and begin thinking about the types of people who might best help them. Use the following questions as “talking points” to guide your first meetings with mentees. Prior to your first meeting, you will find it helpful to fill out Worksheet 3, Mentor checklist, page 42. When you begin to meet with new mentees, use Worksheet 4, Professional development plan, page 43, or create one of your own. identities are springboards to greater self-confidence and connectedness to wider communities of experience. What are the student’s strengths and weaknesses? ■ ■ ■ What are the student’s goals for graduate school and beyond? ■ Ask the student to describe broadly the skills he or she brings to graduate study (e.g., creative, analytical, statistical, organizational, etc.). Share your impressions about strengths and areas for improvement if you know the student well enough from classes or projects. Suggest courses or experiences the student needs in order to improve important skill sets or gain broader exposure. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Ask about the student’s prior educational and professional experiences, and how he or she connects these to graduate study. What does the student hope to accomplish with an advanced degree? Discuss your own research or creative projects and how they complement or diverge from the student’s interests. Offer suggestions about courses, other training, and work experiences inside or outside the department that would aid the student in reaching his or her goals. Refer the student to colleagues inside and outside the University who could serve as additional mentors to assist the student’s learning and professional goals. If you know someone well, offer to send a letter of introduction on the student’s behalf. Recognize that students may want to use their graduate study to contribute positively to the community, either during or after graduate training. Refer students to colleagues who have successfully bridged academic and community goals. Realize that the student’s career goals will likely change over the course of graduate study, especially as he or she begins to learn about the labor market within a particular academic discipline. A student may seek to become a faculty member in a research institution, to have an academic career in other educational institutions, or to pursue a career outside the academy. Increase your awareness of how students’ identities shape the graduate experience and how the graduate experience shapes students’ identities. Well formed What is the student’s preferred work style? ■ ■ ■ Discuss what type of guidance the student needs to learn most effectively (e.g., independent vs. one-on-one work). Discuss your own work style and how you typically interact with graduate students (e.g., do you prefer to meet only during office hours? Do you hold informal meetings? Do you invite students to collaborate on teaching and research projects, and papers and presentations?). Ask the student to describe people who have been valuable mentors in the past, and what these mentors did that helped him or her achieve important goals. Clarify expectations One of the strongest themes that graduate students express, on this campus and in national studies, is the desire for greater clarity on expectations, roles, and responsibilities. With clear expectations, mentoring relationships are far more likely to be productive, enjoyable, and mutually beneficial. Not all mentors and mentees establish a formal contract. Some find it useful, while others prefer to work from mutually specified yet informal agreements (see Worksheet 5, Sample agreement, page 44). To prevent misunderstandings, discuss frequently the expectations you and your mentee have of each other, including how they may change over time. In particular, the following points are especially helpful to discuss with mentees early on: H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 35 37 Section IV Have realistic expectations Be realistic about what you can do for your mentees and help them understand what kinds of assistance they can expect from you. Assist your students in their search for multiple mentors. Analyze what your mentees need and help them develop a productive balance between seeking help from you and taking on more responsibility over time as they develop professionally. Your mentees will differ in their needs and willingness to seek your help, and some may not have a firm grip on their goals or needs. While you should establish standards of excellence and professionalism for all your mentees, adjust your approach depending on the developmental stage of each mentee. Some professors prefer students to take responsibility for arranging and leading meetings while others prefer to share the responsibility. Some prefer students to prepare agendas in advance so as to maximize time together. Whichever is true for you, communicate this to your mentees and extend them a clear invitation to contact you when they need help. Feedback. Discuss how often you will give feedback on students’ progress and what type of feedback they can expect from you. In all cases, explain to mentees how you intend your feedback to help their intellectual and professional growth. Reminders. Explain how long it generally takes you to Clarify roles and responsibilities No matter how formal or informal your mentoring agreements may be, as your mentees progress through the graduate experience, you can revise your understandings together. Some responsibilities to address early, especially if you are also the student’s advisor or thesis/dissertation committee chair, include: Goals and work plans. Ask your students to develop review students’ work, and let them know how they can best follow up if you are unable to reply within the specified time frame. For instance, you might like an e-mail or phone reminder a few days before the agreed-upon date. Each time students submit work to you, convey when they can expect you to return it. Take these opportunities to remind students of your feedback style and your expectations. Drafts. Explain what you expect first drafts to look like and share with you a general work plan, including shortand long-term goals, and establish reasonable timelines. Make sure these plans are feasible and meet the academic program’s requirements. Agree upon a time for students to update you at least once a quarter (e.g., via a meeting, memo, or e-mail) on progress made and obstacles encountered. Discuss any additional training and experiences students need to achieve their goals. If adjusting timelines becomes necessary, work together to agree upon new plans. Meetings. Talk with your students about how often you before being submitted to you. If you do not want students to hand in rough drafts, suggest they share their work with a trusted peer or writing group first. When your students submit successive drafts, ask them to highlight revised sections to save you from unnecessarily re-reading the full document. Publishing and presenting. Discuss with mentees your can meet. Be explicit if you have a heavy travel schedule, are about to take a sabbatical, or will be assuming an administrative position. If you are unable to meet often enough to satisfy students’ needs, discuss alternative means of communication such as e-mail, and help students think of others to consult. You can also convey what issues you feel require a face-to-face meeting and those that can be dealt with in other ways. Let students know if they may contact you at home, and under what circumstances calls are appropriate. Also, ask them whether you can contact them at home. philosophy and expectations about co-authorship, as well as your willingness to help them prepare work for submission to journals and conferences. Ask students what writing/ speaking goals they have. Intellectual property. If you have invited a mentee to work closely with you on a research project, clarify who owns the data that is being collected and whether others will be able to have access. Consideration for the ownership and sharing of research is important in all disciplines. Discuss the ownership of any copyright and patent agreements that might occur as a result of a collaborative project. For more information, contact the UW Office of 36 38 G e t t i n g t h e j o u r n ey sta rted Research www.washington.edu/research, or the UW Office of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer at depts.washington.edu/techtran. Research and human subjects. All research involving Encourage students to be proactive Ideally, all students should feel they can approach their professors openly and candidly. But at a large research university like UW, some students may find the facultystudent ratio quite different from their undergraduate experience and may need to make extra efforts to seek out interactions with professors. In some cases, personalities or cultural backgrounds may make students feel less comfortable with direct approaches. Remind your students that visiting you during office hours is a great way to maintain contact. At the same time, invite your students to suggest other times and places for discussions, or offer them yourself. human subjects that is performed or supervised by UW faculty, staff, or students must be reviewed by the UW Human Subjects Division. It is an essential part of a faculty mentor’s responsibilities to advise students to seek Human Subjects review and approval prior to the beginning of research activities. Research with human subjects cannot be retroactively reviewed and approved. Moreover, performing a human subjects study without prior review and approval is considered “serious” non-compliance according to federal regulations, and must be brought to a full Human Subjects Committee for inquiry and action. More information is available at www.washington.edu/research/hsd/index.php. Confidentiality. Mentors and students who develop close Explain the advantages of multiple mentors Because one individual is rarely able to meet all of a student’s mentoring needs, graduate students need to find and cultivate multiple mentors. Mentors can be faculty members within or outside the University. They might be departmental staff, current graduate students, or graduate alumni. They can even be professionals in the community with special knowledge or abilities related to a student’s goals. Students with multiple mentors increase the likelihood that they will obtain assistance and support from a range of expert sources—their “team.” This approach is especially helpful for exploring diverse career opportunities. relationships sometimes discuss confidential issues. Be clear about the confidentiality you would like accorded to you regarding sensitive issues you might disclose, and offer strict confidentiality to your mentee. Recommendation letters. Let students know how much time you need to write letters on their behalf. Ask them to help you by giving you information about the fellowship, grant, or program to which they are applying, including updated copies of their curriculum vitae. Ask students to provide details about the areas of their experience they would like emphasized. In your letters, try to address multiple facets of students’ work. Some faculty visit classes or labs taught by their graduate students so they can address teaching abilities in their recommendation letters. Help students develop realistic approaches to mentors Students will find that developing mentoring relationships is more effective if they request specific kinds of guidance, rather than make general requests for mentorship. Help your students understand they need to invest time in identifying what they need from their mentors and request that assistance clearly and professionally. Basic advice to give your mentees Remember that students must invest patience, persistence, and creativity in their search for lasting mentoring relationships. Because there is no one formula for finding great mentors, students always welcome good advice. The following tips are addressed both in this faculty guidebook and in the companion guidebook for graduate students, How to Obtain the Mentoring You Need. Reinforce these messages by reminding your mentees of these tips regularly in your classes, meetings, and hallway conversations. Remind students to be visible Help your students become aware of the importance of being visible in department life—that office and hallway conversations build and maintain relationships as well as help people glean vital information. If students have a departmental office, encourage them to use it as much as possible. Many students have other responsibilities outside their departments. Help them find creative ways to be visible, by getting involved in key events or gatherings, or taking a leadership role in coordinating certain events each year. H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 37 39 Empower students to take themselves seriously Graduate students need to see themselves not only as bright students, but as potential colleagues. Talk to your students about the full range of professional activities that build career potential and facilitate that transition: participating in departmental lectures or other activities, joining professional associations and societies, networking at local or national conferences or campus events, and seeking opportunities to present work projects. collegiality and growth. For example, after students read books or articles that you have suggested, ask them to offer you their reactions. You can also ask students to tell you whether the feedback or advice you give is useful, and how it could be more useful. Remember, students do not necessarily follow their mentors’ advice in every instance. In fact, sometimes not taking your advice can be a sign that your mentees are seeking opportunities for thinking on their own, and thus a sign of the kind of growth you are helping them to achieve. Encourage students to be responsible Students should understand the value of “owning” their education, which includes responsibility for developing a vision of the future and attending to ordinary, everyday details. These details include being prompt for scheduled meetings, preparing meeting agendas, and updating mentors at least once a quarter about their work, progress, and plans. You are on your way! Providing good mentoring to your graduate students is one of the best investments you can make in your own professional life as well as your mentees’ lives. Good mentoring relationships do not just “happen;” they take effort, patience, and planning. But the returns are great and will have a positive impact on you and your students for many years to come. Good mentoring will give your graduate students the edge as they prepare to enter the profession of their choice. By helping new talent enter the field, you will help your profession evolve and acquire for yourself new ways of approaching challenges, thus enriching your own expertise. Most importantly, you will help your mentees maintain a positive attitude and acquire the self-reliance they need for embarking confidently on their path to success. Remember, many graduate students will follow in your footsteps. They, too, will mentor many others over the course of their professional lives, whatever their career trajectories. The mentoring relationships you nurture now will directly and indirectly benefit numerous individuals and institutions down the road. On this wonderful journey, we wish you every success! Encourage students to show commitment to their professional development Students need to demonstrate involvement in their programs, courses, and research. Many faculty underscore the importance of students “embracing their own work” or “deciding to be the world’s expert in a particular area.” You can help students show commitment in ways that fit their professional goals and individual circumstances. Talk with your students about the kinds of professional activities they would like to take part in and encourage them to take a lead role in departmental or campus initiatives they care about. Invite students to receive criticism in a professional manner Students need to accept criticism of their work in a professional manner. Accepting criticism does not mean agreeing with everything that is said, but rather reflects a willingness to consider other points of view. If students disagree with certain criticisms, it is appropriate for them to defend their ideas in a professional manner. Invite students to comment on your advice Help graduate students learn to share information constructively. Sharing different opinions is a mark of 38 40 SECTION V Mentoring resources Worksheets. This section provides worksheets to help you and your mentees implement the strategies and recommendations discussed in this guidebook. These include assessing your own expectations, getting initial meetings started, planning for professional development, and more. Further readings. Also provided is a list of useful readings to help you expand your knowledge of mentoring and professional development in graduate education. H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 39 41 Se ction V Worksheet 1: Phases of graduate student professional development As mentee becomes: Emphasizes mentor’s role as Senior Learner Manager Colleague-in-Training Educational/Professional Model Junior Colleague/ Colleague Colleague/Mentor “Do the task the way I’ve laid out and check back with me.” “Think about the problem, generate options, then let’s talk about potential outcomes/ decisions.” Associate “You make the decision. Let me know how I can help. I’m interested in the outcome.” Collaborator Views own teaching role as Assistant Grading papers Holding office hours Planning quizzes Collecting feedback Views research role as Assistant Writing assignments Generating test questions Doing some teaching, lecturing, or small group discussions Associate Designing, developing, or revising advanced courses or curriculum; instructor of record or co-teaching Collaborator Performing specific duties under relatively close supervision Assuming design and implementation responsibility for part of a grant or for own research project Conducting research project (or own portion of it) with high degree of independence; sees mentor as a resource Understands practitioner, applied or service roles as Assistant Associate Collaborator Learning the ropes; acquiring discrete technical skills Prefers evaluation to be Assistant Providing strategic assistance or expertise; ultimately defers to mentor Associate Co-leading, co-designing, co-facilitating; sharing responsibility equally Collaborator Frequent and focused on immediate performance Systematic and focused on overall development of skills, aptitudes Collegial, informal, and focused on style, approach, values Sees mentoring needs as Assistant Associate Collaborator Self-assessment; goal assessment; regular meetings Observations; job shadowing; meetings; attend/present at conferences together; networking Reflective practicum; retreat; opportunistic meetings; networking; generate new project together; co-stewardship Adapted from Nyquist, J.D. and Wulff, D.H. (1996). Working effectively with graduate assistants, p. 27. Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Sage. (See Chao [1997] for a four-phase model of graduate student development.) 40 42 M e n t o ri n g Resources Worksheet 2: Mentor expectations Use this worksheet to develop an understanding of what you expect to gain from your mentoring relationships. By clarifying your own expectations, you will be able to communicate and work more effectively with your students. Add items you deem important. The reasons I want to be a mentor are to: ___ Encourage and support a graduate student in my field ___ Establish close, professional relationships ___ Challenge myself to achieve new goals and explore alternatives ___ Pass on knowledge ___ Create a network of talented people ___ Other _______________________________________________________________ I hope that my mentee and I will: ___ Tour my workplace, classroom, center, or lab ___ Go to formal mentoring events together ___ Meet over coffee or meals ___ Go to educational events such as lectures, conferences, talks, or other university events together ___ Go to local, regional, and national professional meetings together ___ Other _______________________________________________________________ I hope that my mentee and I will discuss: ___ Academic subjects that will most benefit his or her career ___ Career options and professional preparation ___ The realities of the workplace ___ My work ___ Technical and related issues ___ How to network ___ How to manage work and family life ___ Personal dreams and life circumstances ___ Other _______________________________________________________________ The things I feel are off limits in my mentoring relationship include: ___ Disclosing our conversations to others ___ Using non-public places for meetings ___ Sharing intimate aspects of our lives ___ Meeting behind closed doors ___ Other _______________________________________________________________ I will help my mentee with job opportunities by: ___ Finding job or internship possibilities in my department, center, lab, or company ___ Introducing my mentee to people who might be interested in hiring him or her ___ Helping practice for job interviews ___ Suggesting potential work contacts to pursue ___ Teaching about networking ___ Critiquing his or her resume or curriculum vitae ___ Other _______________________________________________________________ The amount of time I can spend with my mentee will be, on average: 1 2 3 4 hours each week/every other week/per month (circle one) Adapted from: Brainard, S.G., Harkus, D.A. and George, M.R. (1998), A curriculum for training mentors and mentees: Guide for administrators. Seattle, WA: Women in Engineering Initiative, WEPAN Western Regional Center, University of Washington. H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 41 43 Se ction V Worksheet 3: Planning for first meetings—a mentor’s checklist Use this checklist to plan initial meetings with your mentees in light of what you hope to help them achieve over the long-term. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Arrange first meetings with potential mentees. Explain the goals for meetings and discuss how confidentiality should be handled. Discuss what each of you perceives as the boundaries of the mentoring relationship. Review the mentee’s current experience and qualifications. Discuss and record the mentee’s immediate and long-term goals; explore useful professional development experiences in light of these goals. Record these on a professional development plan. (See Worksheet 4.) Discuss strategies and target dates. Discuss and record any issues that may affect the mentoring relationship such as time and financial constraints, lack of confidence, new to the role, etc. Arrange a meeting schedule (try to meet at least once a quarter). Record topics discussed and feedback given at each meeting. Ensure that all meeting records are kept confidential and in a safe place. Discuss the following activities that can form part of your mentoring relationship: ■ Giving advice on strategies for improving teaching. ■ Organizing observation(s) of teaching and providing constructive feedback. ■ Organizing a session of work shadowing. ■ Consulting on issues or concerns the mentee has with colleagues or study and research groups. ■ Providing feedback from other sources (students, faculty, administrators, and other mentors in or outside the University). Create a mentoring action plan that reflects different professional development needs at different stages of the mentee’s graduate program. Encourage your mentee to reflect regularly on his or her goals, achievements, and areas for improvement. Ask the mentee to compose a brief reflection essay (e.g., 1/2 page) prior to each meeting. Amend the mentoring action plan as needed by focusing on the mentee’s developing needs. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Adapted from: Mentoring towards excellence: Section 4: Handbook and guidelines for mentors and mentees. Association of Colleges and the Further Education National Training Organisation, Learning and Skills Council: Coventry, England. 42 44 M e n t o ri n g Resources Worksheet 4: Graduate student professional development plan Goals Strategies Assessment Follow Up Outcomes 1 2 3 4 5 6 Adapted from Nyquist, J. D. and Wulff, D. H. (1996). Working effectively with graduate assistants, p. 109. Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Sage H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 43 45 Se ction V Worksheet 5: Sample mentor and mentee agreement Consider using this agreement, or another one that you and your mentee(s) create together, if you believe the mentoring relationship will be strengthened by formalizing a mutual agreement of roles, responsibilities, and expectations. We are voluntarily entering into a mentoring relationship from which we both expect to benefit. We want this to be a rich, rewarding experience with most of our time together spent in professional development activities. To this end, we have mutually agreed upon the terms and conditions of our relationship as outlined in this agreement. Objectives We hope to achieve: ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ To accomplish this we will: ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ Confidentiality Any sensitive issues that we discuss will be held in confidence. Issues that are off-limits in this relationship include: _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Frequency of Meetings We will attempt to meet at least _____________ time(s) each month. If we cannot attend a scheduled meeting, we agree to notify one another in advance. Duration We have determined that our mentoring relationship will continue as long as we both feel comfortable or until: ___________________________________________________________________________________________ No-Fault Termination We are committed to open and honest communication in our relationship. We will discuss and attempt to resolve any conflicts as they arise. If, however, one of us needs to terminate the relationship for any reason, we agree to abide by one another’s decision. _________________________________________ Mentor _________________________________________ Date __________________________________________ Mentee __________________________________________ Date Source: Brainard, S.G., Harkus, D.A., and George, M.R. (1998), A Curriculum for training mentors and mentees: Guide for administrators. Seattle, WA: Women in Engineering Initiative, WEPAN Western Regional Center, University of Washington. 44 46 M e n t o ri n g Resources Further reading Adams, H.G. (1992). Mentoring: An essential factor in the doctoral process for minority students. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame, The GEM Program. Anderson, M.S. (Ed.). (1998). The experience of being in graduate school: An exploration. New Directions for Higher Education, 26(101), Spring 1998. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Antony, J.S. & Taylor, E. (2004). Theories and strategies of academic career socialization: Improving paths to the professoriate for black graduate students. In D.H. Wulff, A.E. Austin and Associates. Paths to the professoriate: Strategies for enriching the preparation of future faculty (pp. 92-114). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Basalla, S. & Debelius, M. (2001). So what are you going to do with that? A guide to career-changing for MA’s and PhD’s. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Brainard, S.G., Harkus, D.A., & St. George, M.R. (1998). A curriculum for training mentors and mentees: Guide for administrators. Seattle: Women in Engineering Initiative, WEPAN Western Regional Center, University of Washington. Brown, M.C., Davis, G.L. & McClendon, S.A. (1999). Mentoring graduate students of color: Myths, models and modes. Peabody Journal of Education, 74(2), 105-118. Chandler, C. (1996). Mentoring and women in academia: Re-evaluating the traditional model. NWSA Journal, 8, 79-100. Chao, G.T. (1997). Mentoring phases and outcomes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 51, 15-28. Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy. (1997). Adviser, teacher, role model, friend: On being a mentor to students in science and engineering. National Academy Press: Washington, D.C. [On-line]. Available: http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/mentor. Daloz, L.A. (1999). Mentor: Guiding the journey of adult learners. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Damrosch, D. (1995). We scholars: Changing the culture of the university. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Faison, J.J. (1996). The next generation: The mentoring of African American graduate students on predominately white university campuses. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (New York, NY, April 8-12, 1996). ERIC Document # ED401344. Frierson, H.T., Jr. (Ed.) (1997). Mentoring and diversity in higher education. Greenwich, CT.: JAI Press. Series: Diversity in Higher Education; v. 1. Gaff, J.G., Pruitt-Logan, A.S., & Weibl, R.A. (2000). Building the faculty we need: Colleges and universities working together. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities. Gaff, J.G., Pruitt-Logan, A.S., Sims, L.B. & Denecke, D.D. (2003). Preparing future faculty in the humanities and social sciences: A guide for change. Washington, DC: Council of Graduate Schools. Gaffney, N. A. (Ed.). (1995). A conversation about mentoring: Trends and models. Washington, DC: Council of Graduate Schools. Goldsmith, J.A., Komlos, J. & Schine Gold, P. (2001). The Chicago guide to your academic career: A portable mentor for scholars from graduate school through tenure. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Graduate School. (No date). Enrollment by ethnicity: 1978-1997. Seattle: University of Washington. [On-line]. Available: http://www.grad.washington.edu/stats/Enrollment/enrollEth.htm Graduate School & Center for Instructional Development & Research. (2001). Teaching and learning at UW: A handbook for new teaching assistants. Seattle: University of Washington. [On-line]. Available: http://depts.washington.edu/cidrweb/ TAHandbook/index.html Graduate School & Center for Instructional Development & Research. (No date). Guide to instructional resources and support. Seattle: University of Washington. [On-line]. Available: http://depts.washington.edu/cidrweb/UWInstructional Resources.html Gray, G. (2000). Producing results: Effective management and mentoring in academic labs. AWIS Magazine, 29(1), 14-18. Gross, R.A. (February, 2002). From ‘old boys’ to mentors. Chronicle of Higher Education [On-line]. Available: http://chronicle.com/jobs/2002/02/2002022801c.htm Heinrich, K.T. (1995). Doctoral advisement relationships between women. Journal of Higher Education, 66(4), 447-469. Hoyt, S.K. (1999). Mentoring with class: Connections between social class and developmental relationships in the academy. In A.J. Murrell, F.J. Crosby, & R.J. Ely (Eds.), Mentoring dilemmas: Developmental relationships within multicultural organizations. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Johnson, I.H. & Ottens, A.J. (Eds.). (1996). Leveling the playing field: Promoting academic success for students of color. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Kochan, F.K. (2002). (Ed.). The organizational and human dimensions of successful mentoring programs and relationships. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publications. Lark, J.S. & Croteau, J.M. (1998). Lesbian, gay, and bisexual doctoral students’ mentoring relationships with faculty in counseling psychology: A qualitative study. Counseling Psychologist, 26(5), 754-776. Lovitts, B.E. (2001). Leaving the ivory tower: The causes and consequences of departure from doctoral study. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. Luna, G. & Cullen, D. (1998). Do graduate students need mentoring? College Student Journal, 32(3), 322-330. Mintz, B. & Rothblum, E. (Eds). (1997). Lesbians in academia: Degrees of freedom. New York: Routledge. H ow t o M e n t o r G ra d u a t e S t u d e n t s 45 47 Section V Moss, P., Debres, K.J., Cravey, A., Hyndman, J., Hirschboeck, K.K., & Masucci, M. (1999). Toward mentoring as feminist praxis: Strategies for ourselves and others. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 23(3), 413-427. Murrel, A.J., Crosby, F.J., & Ely, R.J. (1999). Mentoring dilemmas: Developmental relationships within multicultural organizations. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. National Center for Education Statistics. (2000). National postsecondary student aid survey, 1999-2000. Graduate data analysis system. US Department of Education. [On-line]. Available: http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/npsas National Opinion Research Center. (2002). Doctorate recipients in United States universities: Summary report. [On-line]. Available: http://www.norc.org/issues/docdata.htm Nerad, M. (1995). Beyond traditional modes of mentoring, in N.A. Gaffney (Ed.), A Conversation about mentoring: Trends and models. Washington, DC: Council of Graduate Schools. Nerad, M., Aanerud, R. & Cerny, J. (2004). “So you want to become a professor!”: Lessons from the PhDs—Ten years later study. In D.H. Wulff, A.E. Austin and Associates, Paths to the professoriate: Strategies for enriching the preparation of future faculty (pp. 137-158). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Newhouse, M. (1997). Cracking the academia nut: A guide to preparing for your academic career. Cambridge: Harvard University, Office of Career Services. Newhouse, M. (1993). Outside the ivory tower: A guide for academics considering alternative careers. Cambridge: Harvard University, Office of Career Services. Nyquist, J.D. & Woodford, B.J. (2000). Re-envisioning the PhD: What concerns do we have? Seattle: University of Washington, Center for Instructional Development & Research. Nyquist, J.D. & Woodford, B.J. (2004). Re-envisioning the PhD: A challenge for the 21st century. In D.H. Wulff, A.E. Austin and Associates, Paths to the professoriate: Strategies for enriching the preparation of future faculty (pp. 194-216). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Nyquist, J.D. & Wulff, D.H. (1996). Working effectively with graduate assistants. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. President’s Task Force on Gay, Bisexual, Lesbian and Transgender Issues. (2000). Affirming diversity: Moving from tolerance to acceptance and beyond. Seattle: University of Washington. Available: http://www.washington.edu/reports/gblt/ Pruitt-Logan, A.S., Gaff, J.G., Jentoft, J.E. (2002). Preparing future faculty in the sciences and mathematics. Washington, DC: Council of Graduate Schools. Ragins, B.R. & Scandura, T.A. (1994). Gender differences in expected outcomes of mentoring relationships. Academy of Management Journal, 37(4), 957-971 Rittner, B. & Trudeau, P. (1997). The women’s guide to surviving graduate school. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Rossman, M.H. (1995). Negotiating graduate school: A guide for graduate students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Sandler B.R., Silverberg L.A., & Hall, R.M. (1996). The chilly classroom climate: A guide to improve the education of women. Washington, DC. National Association for Women in Education. Sheffer, H. & Woodford, B. (August, 2002). How to plan for a career before you have one. Chronicle of Higher Education [On-line]. Available: http://chronicle.com/jobs/2002/08/ 2002082601c.htm Struthers, N.J. (1995). Differences in mentoring: A function of gender or organizational rank? Journal of Social Behavior & Personality: Special Issue: Gender in the workplace, 10(6) 265-272. Sudol, D. & Hall, A.M. (1991). Back to school: Warnings and advice to the older graduate student. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (Boston, MA, March 21-23, 1991). ERIC Document # ED332217. Suedkamp Wells, K. & Fagen, A. (January, 2002). A little advice from 32,000 graduate students. Chronicle of Higher Education [On-line]. Available: http://chronicle.com/jobs/2002/01/ 2002011401c.htm Syverson, P.D. (1996). Assessing demand for graduate and professional programs. New Directions for Institutional Research, 92, 17-29. Tenenbaum, H.R., Crosby, F.J. & Gliner, M.D. (2001). Mentoring relationships in graduate school. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 59(3), 326-341. Toth, E. (1997). Ms. Mentor’s impeccable advice for women in academia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Vesilind, P.A. (2000). So you want to be a professor? A handbook for graduate students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Wallace, J.M. (Ed.) (1999). Special reflections from the field: Mentoring apprentice ethnographers through field schools. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 30(2), 210-219. Warner, A.B. (2001). Recruiting and retaining African American graduate students. ADE Bulletin, 1(128), 39-40. Wulff, D.H., Austin A.E. and Associates. (2004). Paths to the professoriate: Strategies for enriching the preparation of future faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Wunsch, M.A. (Ed.) (1994). Mentoring revisited: Making an impact on individuals and institutions. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 57, Spring. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Zachary, L.J. (2000). The mentor’s guide: Fostering effective learning relationships. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Zelditch, M. (1990). Mentor roles. Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Western Association of Graduate Schools (Tempe, AZ, March 16-18). 48 46 Produced and published in 2005 by The Graduate School, University of Washington, Box 353770, Seattle, WA 98195. Elizabeth Feetham, Acting Dean and Vice Provost ©2005 The Graduate School, University of Washington. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from The Graduate School, except for pages 40–44. This guide is a modification of the University of Michigan’s publication entitled How to Mentor Graduate Students: A Guide for Faculty at a Diverse University and has been adapted for the University of Washington with permission from the University of Michigan. 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