Challenges and Rewards: Mentoring Graduate Students

Duane Roen Professor of English

Mentoring graduate students can present many challenges, but it offers even more rewards. It is challenging because each student has an individual set of needs. An effective mentor must work thoughtfully to understand those needs and to develop strategies for meeting them. Mentoring is rewarding because one of life's greatest joys is helping early-career professionals find paths to achieving their dreams.

Because graduate students need to develop a wide range of skills and knowledge, mentoring can occur in many forms. For example, to help students develop their writing skills, I--like most mentors--provide feedback on their drafts by posing questions and offering comments that encourage them to think more critically about their writing. Beyond that, I also frequently invite graduate students to co-author journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers with me - a practice that is common in some fields but relatively uncommon in the humanities. When I co-author with graduate students, I hope that they benefit from my experience, but I know that I also benefit from their enthusiasm and fresh perspectives. To help other graduate students with their research activity, I also conduct workshops on preparing conference proposals, presenting at conferences, and writing for publication. Further, I have participated in writing groups for both graduate students and untenured assistant professors.

One of the biggest challenges for doctoral mentors is helping students complete their dissertations effectively and efficiently. While all doctoral candidates need committee chairs who provide feedback on chapters, many also need someone to bolster their confidence - to help them believe that they are capable of tackling a substantial project. For some, that confidence building may require only occasional "you-can-do-it" cheerleading. For others, the mentor has to work with them several times a week for many months. I meet with many of my mentees each weekend at Starbucks to have leisurely conversations about the sticking points in their dissertation writing. In those meetings, my first question is this: "Have you written every day this week?" I remind students that even if they write only one page a day, they can easily write a dissertation in six months. Thinking about one page a day is far less onerous than thinking about a 180-page project. Sometimes, though, life gets in the way of writing a dissertation - a parent becomes ill, a partner leaves the relationship, a financial exigency arises. In those cases, we work to find a workable balance between writing the project and managing the rest of life.

Because graduate students in my field need to be successful teachers throughout their academic careers, I also work with them to develop those skills. When we talk about curriculum and pedagogy, I encourage graduate students to think about the learning that results from their teaching. We talk about how to develop learning outcomes for courses, how to help students achieve those outcomes, how to assess students' learning, and how to use assessment to continuously improve teaching and the learning that follows. Because I hope to influence the teaching of students beyond those whom I directly mentor, I have co-edited -- with several graduate students -- a collection of essays for beginning teachers of college-level writing, especially teaching assistants (Strategies for Teaching First-Year Composition. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 2002). I also conduct teaching workshops for graduate students, focusing on topics such as classroom assessment techniques, building courses from the ground up, writing and critical thinking, and writing as a tool for learning.

Doctoral students also need to develop a range of other skills and knowledge that often get too little attention in graduate school - for example, how to prepare for the academic job search. In addition to working with my individual students on these skills, I also offer workshops sponsored by Preparing Future Faculty, the Graduate College, the Graduate Scholars of English Association, and other graduate programs and organizations at Arizona State University. I've been conducting these workshops since the 1980s, when I was a faculty member at the University of Arizona. The topics include the following: crafting CVs and letters of application, preparing for the academic job search, interviewing for academic jobs, constructing effective teaching portfolios.

I also have many conversations with graduate students to figure out what will make them happy in their careers. We talk about their professional aspirations and comfort zones, as well as their personal circumstances. For example, some graduate students want to pursue careers in small liberal arts institutions or community colleges because they love teaching above all else. Others want a balance of teaching and research; and still others want to focus more on research than teaching. Of course, some of them have personal circumstances that can't be ignored - a partner who can find a job only in certain regions of the country, an ailing parent, the proximity of an extended family, a personal health problem that will become worse in certain climates. In these conversations, my guiding question is "What will make you happy?" Of course, I can only pose that question; I can't answer it. Because I have always preferred working in large research universities, I constantly remind myself that graduate students may have other preferences for a wide range of reasons. I never push them to follow the career path that has made ME happy.

I take great pride in writing detailed letters of recommendation for graduate students who are seeking fellowships, tenure-track jobs, and awards. The best letters are ones that I draft, revise, and edit over the course of four or five years. I like to begin writing a letter when I first begin working with a graduate student; that way, activities and projects are fresh in my mind as I describe and evaluate them. These letters include concrete details about the dissertation and other research activities, writing skills, teaching strengths, and service accomplishments.

I have been active in the major professional organizations in my field by serving on committees and task forces, serving as an elected officer, reviewing manuscripts and proposals, and co-editing a journal. I make these service commitments because I feel that every faculty member should be involved in their professional organizations. Besides that, though, I know that being involved in the profession helps to strengthen my ethos when I recommend students for jobs.

I am fortunate to have worked with so many talented and dedicated graduate students throughout my career. I am very proud of their individual and collective accomplishments. I hope that I have, in some small way, helped them realize their dreams.