Mentoring Strategies Debra W. Stewart North Carolina Alliance to Create Opportunity through Education March 20, 2006 North Carolina State University Council of Graduate Schools

What is a Mentor? “Someone on the faculty to whom students turn for advice, to review a paper, or for general support or encouragement” (Nettles & Millett, 2005) A mentor is a key ingredient in student success (Harnett, 1976; Blackwell, 1987, Arce and Manning, 1984) Cause of success in employment (Bargar and Mayo-Chamberlain, 1983)

What Do We Know About Mentoring? Good Mentoring Contributes to: Retention Degree Progress Student Satisfaction Research Productivity Clear Academic Expectations Degree Completion Professional Development

What Do We Know About Mentoring? One-size does not fit all in mentoring Mentors can be advisers, but not all advisers are mentors Mentoring relationships are developed for the majority of students during the first year of graduate study More women report having mentors than men More than 30% of all graduate students never feel that they had or identified with a faculty mentor

What Do We Know About Mentoring? Same sex advising relationships more likely for men and for whites. Women are more likely to switch from a male adviser to a female mentor. In science and math, 76% of white students identified with a mentor but only 57% of African Americans identified with a mentor

What Do We Know About Mentoring? Differences across fields Field of study determines the type of scholarly activity and mentorship. Research productivity and publication is higher for students of all races in engineering and sciences than in education, humanities, or social sciences (Survey of Doctoral Student Finances, Experiences, and Achievements) A mentor in education, engineering, & social science fields improves degree completion A mentor in humanities and social science fields decreases time-to-degree

Why is Mentoring a Key Aspect of Graduate Program Quality? More than half of students completing the Ph.D. report that mentoring was a crucial component of their success in the doctoral program “She was/is a strong advocate for her students in surmounting impediments in the way” (Student, Howard University) “Encouragement, administrative guidance, support for me & my project” (Student, University of Notre Dame) “Good advice on practical matters like "type" of jobs in academia” (Student, Yale University) “Moral and humane support was the most important of all” (Student, Universite de Montreal)

How are Graduate Schools Addressing Mentoring in Best Practices? Preparing Future Faculty Projects Ph.D. Completion Project Pfizer Inc and the Ford Foundation Responsible Conduct of Research Initiatives Office of Research Integrity (ORI) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Professional Master’s Initiatives Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Ford Foundation

What are Promising Mentoring Practices? Preparing Future Faculty Initiatives Experiential mentoring opportunity Collaborative mentoring with faculty from multiple institutions Professional development Teaching, Research, and Service Diverse teaching opportunities Cluster institution model permits student-faculty partnerships in diverse institutional settings http://www.preparing-faculty.org/

What are Promising Mentoring Practices? Ph.D. Completion Project – Early Insights on Student Needs: Increase collaborative research opportunities early in the doctoral career More emphasis on program plan and timely completion of academic milestones Timely feedback from mentors Foster intellectual capital Model academic and professional networking across a range of settings More frequent communication, in-person and via alternative methods Guidance early and often http://www.phdcompletion.org/

What are Promising Mentoring Practices? Responsible Conduct of Research Initiative Good mentoring means: Communication of professional and ethical standards Exposure to interdisciplinary standards of RCR Development of critical thinking skills http://www.cgsnet.org/Default.aspx?tabid=123

What are Promising Mentoring Practices? Professional Master’s Degree Initiatives Guided professional internship experience On-site practical instruction Field specific Substantial time commitment Direct guidance from industry Encouraging faculty to value mentoring master’s students. http://www.cgsnet.org/Default.aspx?tabid=120

Questions Remaining: What can be done to improve student perception of quality in mentoring relationships? How do we assess the quality of mentoring relationships? How do we integrate new techniques for future and current faculty? Do different mentoring strategies need to be developed for different graduate constituencies?

The Future According to Margaret King: “Because the appropriate balance between too much and too little supervision is both delicate and dynamic, research advising, like tightrope walking, requires constant and careful attention” (King, 2003, p. 8)