Becoming an Effective Faculty Mentor HUTEP Preparing Future Faculty Summer Institute Chontrese Doswell, Ph.D. Assistant Dean, Graduate School Howard University June 24,2005 El Paso, TX

Elements of Good Faculty Mentoring  Advisor vs. Mentor  Mentoring encompasses a broader range of personal, academic and professional development interaction  Optimizes educational outcomes by socializing the student into the vocation of the discipline and their career destination

Establish a healthy mentoring relationship  Develop a mentoring philosophy  Design, implement and evaluate mentoring approaches  Establish a clear list of mentoring expectations  Create an environment of independence and confidence for mentees

Benefits of Faculty Mentoring  Stay on top of your field Coaching junior colleagues promotes professional acumen  Develop your professional network Establishing contacts for your students, will strengthen your own contacts and ultimately create new ones  Achieve satisfaction The process of guiding a student who eventually becomes friend and colleague is extremely rewarding  Attract good students The reputation of a good mentor attracts high caliber students who can help produce better research, papers and grant proposals

Avoiding Pitfalls: establish and maintain boundaries  Avoid inappropriate personal boundaries that compromise clarity and judgment  Avoid excessively dependent student behavior  Resist the “cloning” intellectual offspring syndrome

Appropriate Empathy, Appropriate Empowerment Empathy  Create an environment of trust and respect  Know when to push or challenge and when to back-off!  Temper candid, constructive feedback with encouragement

Appropriate Empathy, Appropriate Empowerment Empowerment  The power pendulum typically swings in the direction of the mentor: higher position, more experience and field knowledge  Neutralize this dynamic by exercising power with the student  Empower the student through advocacy and facilitating a network of mentors

Transitioning from graduate student mentee to faculty mentor  Shedding the graduate student skin  Pitfalls of being a young, faculty member of color  Set mentoring limits that will not compromise professional and personal responsibilities

Advice for new faculty mentors  Listen patiently  Build relationships  Don’t abuse your authority  Share yourself  Provide instructions  Be constructive  Be yourself