How to Mentor and be Mentored

September 17, 2019

How can you foster good relationships with your mentors? What tips can you use to help your own mentoring of undergraduate students? A panel of mentors and mentees give their best advice on navigating academic relationships while pursuing your graduate degree.

Watch The Training

Panelists

Elizabeth Simpson

  • PDRF in the biology and ecology center
  • Successful mentoring story – having a conversation at beginning about undergrad goals.
  • Go wrong – don’t give them too much to do at first with little to no guidance

Idowu Atoloye

  • PDRF in the Plants, soils and climate department
  • Be a good mentor – 1 step into other shoes and try to relate with them
  • Be a good mentee – envision mind of your mentor, what clothing expect of me. Helps to have a good conversation with them
  • Prepare yourself to do any task

Alexa Sand

  • Professor of art history and Associate Vice President for research
  • Key skill in mentoring is listening. An active activity
  • Not every student that comes to you will end up being your students it’s up to their personality and interests.

Elizabeth Vargis

  • Bio engineering assistant professor
  • Make communication easy for your group (recommends using slack)
  • Worst thing I’ve done: don’t hover, they don’t operate how you do. “hands off” approach may work. Ask them what they would like from you

Questions

How would you approach students who are not meeting your clear expectations?

  • Have some empathy
  • Pull them aside and ask where they’re at
  • Set goals and follow up on them
  • Explain to them how you would perform the task
  • These expectations should be documented so you can bring that back up to remind them
  • As the one being mentored, if you don’t feel like you are being as closely mentored as you should. Talk to them!
  • Tell them that mistakes happen and that’s okay! Tell them that right off the bat so the mistake is documented

Have any of you had formal training for mentoring?

  • Training research faculty meetings
  • Professional skills workshops
  • Federal mandated meetings
  • FERPA training, sexual harassment are required of mentors

Why did you want to be a mentor?

  • I wanted to help people find the scientific research field interesting and help them become teachers too.
  • I had poor mentoring so I wanted to be better!

I don’t want to “babysit” my undergrads, how do I get them to do what they need to do?

  • Make it about the productivity rather than time. Give a due date because it offers structure, undergrads often need deadlines.

How do you balance open feedback and not getting walked all over?

  • Learn to deal with unhappy people
  • Set boundaries and expectations
  • Gender and culture may be an issue . women may be less inclined to be more firm and taken seriously
  • Again, step into their shoes and think about the context
  • Establish policies if need be

When problems come up, where and who do you talk to?

  • Peers and fellow graduate students that I feel comfortable talking to. People to ask their opinion. To hold you accountable, to cent, etc.
  • We are humans, so expect the unexpected
  • Your major professor and faculty head. They are there to support you!