Mentorship: A Success Key for
Graduate Students
PACES Graduate Boot Camp
Saturday, Sept 12th, 2015
By the end of this session you will
understand…
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The importance of mentorship for your graduate
program success
The characteristics and qualities that make for a good
mentor
What qualities you possess/need as a mentee
Your goals for graduate education
The importance and role of your values and beliefs
The issues that may affect the mentor/mentee
relationship
How to select the right mentor for you
What the issues are for you as a mentee
How to make mentorship work well for you
What does it take to be successful as a
graduate student?
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Motivation
Perseverance
Love of learning
Good time management
Leading a balanced life
Financial support
Emotional & intellectual support
Encouragement
Valuable, useful feedback
Resilience
Others?
How do you access most of these?
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Family and friends
Other students
Faculty
Other professionals
Within yourself
How about mentors?
Can any or all of these be mentors for you?
Mentorship – what is it?
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Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey (Mentor was Odysseus’ trusted friend
and advisor)
What is a mentor?
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One who is committed to help others achieve:
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How does that differ from a “coach” or “advisor?”
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A better understanding of themselves, their place in the world, and their
search for meaningful living
A coach is someone who helps us acquire skills
An advisor is someone who may provide sound guidance but may
remain removed or aloof from the individual
Mentorship is a role that is more ‘a calling’ than part of one’s
job description
Characteristics of a Mentor
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Respect
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Commitment
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To excellence in process and outcome
Demanding
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For a student’s uniqueness as well as capacity and preferred
mode of learning
A mentor never compromises the student’s dignity
Have quality standards; push students to their potential
Availability
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Within reason, at the disposal of their students
Students feel welcome to appts; boundaries set clearly
Characteristics of a Mentor
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Encouraging
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Ethical
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Mentor is a role model for students; behavior is beyond ethical
reproach
Trust occurs when students are secure in belief that they will
be treated with dignity
Philosophical
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Motivator through behavior, optimistic outlook, provides
explicit encouragement
Have ‘big picture’ in mind when counseling
Openness
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Open to discovery, new ways of thinking, to new possibilities
What about characteristics of the Mentee?
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Respectful
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Committed
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To course of study and an academic standard of excellence
that exceeds the ordinary
Passionate
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Cardinal virtue of any relationship is to respect the other’s
dignity
If not present relationships deteriorate into mutual use and
abuse
Need to have “fire in the belly”; stubbornness not to succumb
to challenges
Philosophical openness to discovery
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Needs to take chances; be open to challenges to perspectives
What about characteristics of the Mentee?
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Ethical
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Conduct themselves with utmost concern for ethical
scholarship & honest interaction with mentor(s)
Is it surprising that the characteristics are nearly the same
for both the mentor and mentee?
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Both parties are part of the same relationship
Both parties should be ‘on the same page’
Both parties mutually benefit from the relationship
What is the purpose of graduate education?
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Succeed in completing the degree?
To receive as much funding as possible?
To publish results?
To develop the mentee and mentor to a higher state of
cognitive awareness?
To facilitate an environment in which the mentor and
mentee can flourish?
The ultimate goal…
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To flourish as individuals – better thinkers, better decisionmakers, better writers, better professors… better people.