Graduate College talks mentorship in Grad15 and Mentoring Matters sessions

In advance of the 2020-21 Outstanding Faculty Mentor Awards, the Graduate College hosted two mentoring sessions designed to help new graduate students develop and make the most of their mentoring relationships. 

During the February 9 Grad15 mini-webinar, Mapping Your Mentoring Network, we discussed the importance of fostering multiple mentoring relationships or “mentoring ecosystems.” While traditional faculty-mentee relationships are one of the most important aspects to graduate student success, there are many reasons graduate students should have multiple mentors in their networks. 

In this webinar, we shared five tips for developing a mentoring map -- a useful tool students can use to find g mentorship in all areas they need. 

To download the slide deck of the webinar, visit our Canvas resource portal. 

On Monday, February 15 we continued the conversation in Mentoring Matters: Building Effective Mentoring Relationships, an hour-long workshop hosted in conjunction with the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences. 

In this workshop we discussed strategies graduate students can employ to be proactive and effective mentees, make informed decisions in selecting mentors, and identify potential mentors. 

The first half of this workshop focused on the four elements of a productive mentoring relationship: effective mentors, engaged mentees, strong communication and clear mutual goals and objectives, and a strong mentoring fit. The second half focused on practical steps students can take to evaluate compatibility  and initiate contact with potential mentors. The workshop closed by offering search strategies and resources students can utilize to find potential mentoring connections.

Mentoring Matters workshops are offered in Fall and Spring. Visit our mentoring webpage to request a workshop or download tip sheets from previous workshops. The next workshop, Mapping Your Mentoring Networks, is an expansion on the Grad15 mini-webinar of the same name and will be offered upon request.