Mentor & Mentee Guidance
Guidance for Mentors
Please establish the initial contact with your assigned mentee. After that, it is up to both the mentor and mentee to stay in contact and schedule regular meetings. You should be available to meet at least twice per semester.
Consider the following advice for working with mentees:
- Keep all discussions with your mentee confidential
- Model professional responsibility for your mentee
- Support mental health and well-being
- Assist in building the mentee’s network of colleagues and other mentors
- Develop shared understandings for meeting and communicating with your mentee
- Be willing to discuss difficult problems and discuss your mentee’s scholarship
- Be open, honest, and direct in your communication
- Encourage your mentee to try new approaches, techniques, and ideas
- Share what you have learned as a scholar
- Provide advice, but not instruction
In sum, as a mentor, you want to offer guidance, advice, and a sympathetic ear for your mentee, as well as additional opportunities for networking and professional development.
Guidance for Mentees
After your mentor’s initial contact with you, it is up to both the mentor and mentee to stay in contact and schedule regular meetings. You should be available to meet at least twice per semester.
Consider the following advice for working with your mentor:
- Keep all communication with your mentor confidential
- Communicate what you seek in a mentoring relationship
- Be direct and clear in communicating
- Develop shared understandings for meeting and communicating with your mentor
- Ask questions without concern for embarrassment
- Take advantage of the opportunity to network with and learn from your mentor
Potential Topics of Discussion for Mentors and Mentees
Note that topics of discussion will vary based on one’s track (academic/alternative), stage of career, and particular situation. This list is intended only as a list of some possible topics:
- How to meet degree program requirements and timelines
- Successful strategies for academic promotion
- Navigating informal academic and disciplinary norms
- How to manage one’s time and workload
- Creating healthy work boundaries and navigating work-related stress/guilt
- Seeking support systems for quality of life issues
- Guidance and advice on one’s scholarship
- Guidance and advice on securing external funding
- Encouragement and support in applying to paper competitions and other awards
- Venues for presentation and publication
- Seeking a new job
- Managing professional service roles
- Developing professional networks
- Strategies for effective collaboration with other students and scholars