"Who is your mentor?"

Associate Dean of the Graduate School, 
Dr. Katherine Hall-Hartell 

"Who is your mentor?" I thought that was an odd question when I started my graduate program. In my world, mentors were people who groomed you for your next promotion. While that is true for many working professionals, mentors in graduate education have a different role. A really important role that, as it turns out, is vital to your success as a researcher.

Mentors in graduate school can play many roles: Expert. Champion. Advocate. Driver. A great mentor knows what you need and when you need it. That's the ideal. A great mentor can reassure you that you have the necessary skill to complete that research, or that you really are good at public speaking, despite your introverted nature. A great mentor knows when to challenge you in order to get your best effort. At the core, a good mentor cares about you as a person. They care more about you and your growth than they do about data and publications. Not to say they won't push you to get that article published --- they will and they should --- but not at the expense of your health and wellness.

All of us learn from our experiences. If a faculty member had a bad mentor during graduate school, how does he or she learn how to mentor well? It turns out that faculty, like students, can learn to be good mentors. The Graduate School has launched an initiative to improve the research climate on campus. As part of that effort, mentor training for graduate faculty is being offered in all of the colleges. So far, more than 50 faculty have completed the training, which teaches them how to communicate effectively with students. They also learn the importance of aligning expectations with their mentees. If you, as a mentee, intended to move into industry once you complete your degree, you need a mentor who will support your path to that goal.

Likewise, students can learn to be good mentees. You can learn what questions to ask or how to make your mentor understand your goals. You can develop better communication skills to bridge the gap between you and a possible mentor. The Center for Graduate Life will launch a new program to train doctoral students to get the most out of the mentee/mentor relationship. This intensive training will be offered on a Saturday, which will allow students from many programs to participate.

Why give up your Saturday for mentee training? As I said at the beginning, the mentoring relationship you have with your faculty is crucial to your success. If participating in a Saturday training session helped you select a more appropriate faculty member as your mentor, wouldn't you make the time for the training?

I hope you will take advantage of the resources available to you so that you can be a good mentee and find a truly inspired mentor. Please keep an eye out for the upcoming Mentee training initiative, which will be launched this spring. Check the CGL website https://gradlife.uncc.edu/professional-development for other workshops. It may make the difference in your success - not just in graduate school, but in your life to come.