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

2. 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)

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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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)

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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?

14. 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)