Identify the issue
Understand Yourself: What You Want in a Mentor
- Learn how a mentor can help support you in your personal, academic, and professional development.
“Choosing an appropriate mentor is paramount to your success as a scientist. Your whole career is about mentoring and being mentored.” — Caiti S. S. Heil
Being mentored while you are in graduate school is closely tied to your progression, completion, and satisfaction with the program, and has enormous consequences for your career. Ideally, your advisor is also your mentor, but the potential contributions of mentors go beyond the essential roles of an advisor.
A comprehensive report on the science of mentoring describes mentoring as follows:
Mentorship refers to a collaborative learning relationship and working alliance, historically but not always between a more experienced and less experienced individual, based on intentionality, responsiveness, reciprocity, trust, and shared responsibility for the interactions in that relationship and the effectiveness of those interactions. (NASEM, 2019, p. 15)
Successfully navigating graduate school depends on support in multiple arenas. The primary role of your advisor in directing your progress in research and meeting the degree requirements is indispensable. Advisors play a critical role in engaging you in activities that help you in developing the identity of a scientist or engineer (Carlone & Johnson (2007). [See Advisor Issues for more].
In addition to research and program guidance, many other aspects will contribute to your success now and in the future as a STEM professional. For example, instrumental career supports include skill development, career guidance, networking, and sponsorship and are necessary elements in moving forward.
And then there is the psychosocial component: You will benefit from all the emotional support, confidence-boosting, and role modeling that you can get.
Mentoring is strongly associated with degree completion and career advancement for diverse women (NAS, 2019; Nettles & Millett, 2006). Mentors who provide psychosocial support can help mentees better cope with biases and counter the effects of unpleasant working environments. A mentor can demonstrate effective coping strategies and provide new or different perspectives while remaining sensitive to your experience of marginalization (Dean & Simpson, 2013; Van Emmerik, 2004).
Even if a single advisor has the entire set of knowledge, skills, abilities, or networks from which you could benefit and provides you both instrumental and psychosocial support, others can enrich and supplement all the skill-building and professional development that comprises graduate study. That’s where mentors come in, especially multiple mentors. It will be an advantage for you to find one or two faculty mentors in addition to your advisor as your guides during your program. [See Chapter 4 of the NASEM (2019) for a full report on different kinds of mentorship structures].
Different mentors are able to provide different things. For this reason, cultivating a “team” of mentors is encouraged. You may wish to consider having mentors for career development (i.e., a professional in your chosen field), a peer mentor (i.e., another woman further along in your graduate program who can guide you through the process based on her similar experience), and even a personal mentor (e.g., someone who balances their work with their family life or other priorities that are important to you).
Mentors often interact with their mentees on multiple levels, including informally and socially. They can be sources for frank advice and guidance that may not be available—or appropriate—from your faculty advisor. Moreover, mentors generally provide more emotional support and individualized attention than advisors.
Key differences between advisors and mentors are power dynamics and hierarchy. Advisors have supervisory and evaluative responsibilities. In contrast, the mentoring relationship is voluntary, nonevaluative, and based on mutual comfort and trust.
There are many substantiated academic and personal benefits of positive mentoring relationships. These include:
- Persisting and completing your degree
- Being better integrated in the STEM academic community
- Increasing confidence as a STEM researcher
- Publishing more research
- Getting access to networking opportunities
- Developing relationships with role models with shared identities
- Receiving moral support
- Connecting with potential employers
The following is a list of attributes, functions, and roles played by mentors that students have valued. Some of these may give you ideas of what you would like to seek in a mentor.
Some of the supports listed below may come from other important people in your life, such as a friend, relationship partner, or family member (See Cross & Esters, 2018, for the concept of a “Board of Directors” for Black women graduate students). Different mentors can supplement what your advisor provides for supporting you academically, personally, and professionally.
Which of the following resonate with you? Which do you have and which do you need? You may use the checklist below to mark whether you currently "Have" or "Need" each item in the list, as well as to rate each item as "Important" or "Not Important" to you.
| HAVE | NEED | IMPORTANT | NOT IMPORTANT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offers honest, frank, constructive feedback and guidance | ||||
| Provides encouragement and support | ||||
| Helps you “learn the ropes” | ||||
| Demystifies the graduate school experience | ||||
| Guides you in becoming a better teacher | ||||
| Serves as a role model for you | ||||
| Calls your attention to and nominates you for awards and other opportunities | ||||
| Challenges you to stretch in your career aspirations | ||||
| Offers recommendations for how to deal with an interpersonal problem in the program | ||||
| Offers emotional support by relating to your experiences as a woman in a male-dominated field | ||||
| Shares experiences from the perspective of common social identities | ||||
| Engages you in ongoing conversations that are relevant to your life and work | ||||
| Serves as an advocate and ally in times of struggle | ||||
| Helps to foster networks of academic and professional support and opportunities | ||||
| Validates your experiences and feelings by providing a listening ear and respect | ||||
| Interacts with you on multiple levels (e.g., formally, socially, personally) | ||||
| Provides a safe space |
Consider identifying several people beyond your advisor, such as other faculty, administrators, alumni, professionals in the field, who can meet different needs for you. Identifying mentors is possible through a variety of avenues. You might try:
- Meeting faculty through the Faculty Women’s Association on your campus (they welcome students) or through local disciplinary and affinity groups
- Looking through mentoring websites that are designed to connect students and professionals in a given area (see Online Resources and Supports)
- Taking advantage of national mentoring networks such MyMentor through the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN). [More information can be found in Online Resources and Supports ]
- Contacting faculty and professionals who have received awards in the past for their mentoring contributions
- Browsing alumni websites and publications for active professionals who take an interest in their alma mater
- Connecting at professional conferences or organizations
- Corresponding with scholars or professionals in your field
Self-test
Ashley looks up to one of her adjunct professors, Clara. She feels that Clara embodies what Ashley would like to be professionally after graduating, and she finds Clara to be approachable. Ashley would like to regard Clara as a mentor but is unsure how to proceed.
Which of the following would be the best option?
- A. Hang out around Clara after class and hope that Clara initiates conversation, then work mentoring into the conversation.
- B. Use an indirect approach to make it more comfortable for Clara. Start emailing Clara when questions come up or calling her during her available hours
- C. Approach Clara directly to ask how she would feel about becoming a mentor.
- Be proactive and initiate contact with mentors
- Focus on shared interests and your strengths
- Clarify each person’s roles and expectations
- Be open-minded and receptive to feedback
- Ask questions and listen to your mentor’s advice
- Give feedback to your mentor on what is most and least helpful to you
- Make the relationship work for you; use your mentor’s guidance in a way that suits your needs and fits your desired career path
- Express appreciation for the support your mentor is providing [See Show Reciprocity ]
The best way to make your journey through graduate school satisfying and successful is by assembling a team to provide tangible help as well as psychosocial support. On the academic side, working closely with your research advisor along with one or more mentors will give you a solid foundation for developing your capabilities and reaching your goals.
Remember, too, that the CareerWISE Academic Resilience Coach is here to provide some online mentoring whenever you want an extra boost!
Baker, V.L., Pifer, M.J., & Griffin, K.A. (2014). Mentor-protégé fit: Identifying and developing effective mentorship across identities in doctoral education. International Journal for Researcher Development, 5(2), 83–98. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJRD-04-2014-0003
Bernstein, B. L., Jacobson, R., & Russo, N. F. (2010). Mentoring woman in context: Focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. In C. A. Rayburn, F. L. Denmark, M. E. Reuder, & A. M. Austria, (Eds.). A handbook for women mentors: Transcending barriers of stereotype, race, and ethnicity. Westport, CN: Praeger Publishers.
Blake-Beard, S., Bayne, M., Crosby, F., & Muller, C. (2011). Keeping our eyes on the prize: Matching by race and gender in mentoring relationships. Journal of Social Issues, 67(3), 622–643. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2011.01717.x
Byars-Winston, A., & Butz, A. R. (2021). Measuring research mentors’ cultural diversity awareness for race/ethnicity in STEM: Validity evidence for a new scale. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 20(2), ar15. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.19-06-0127
Cabay, B. (2018). Chilly climates, balancing acts, and shifting pathways: What happens to women in STEM doctoral programs. Social Sciences (Basel), 7(2), 23–. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7020023
Carlone, H. B., & Johnson, A. (2007). Understanding the science experiences of successful women of color: Science identity as an analytic lens. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 44(8), 1187-1218. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20237
Cropps, T. A., & Esters, L.T. (2018). Sisters, other-mothers and aunties: The importance of informal mentors for Black women graduate students at predominantly white institutions. https://diverseeducation.com/article/119653/
Dawson, A., Bernstein, B. L., & Bekki, J. M. (2015). Providing the psychosocial benefits of mentoring to women in STEM: CareerWISE as an online Solution. New Directions for Higher Education, 2015(171), 53–62. https://doi.org/10.1002/he.20142
Hernandez, P., Estrada, M., Woodcock, A., & Schultz, P. (2017). Protégé perceptions of high mentorship quality depend on shared values more than on demographic match. The Journal of Experimental Education, 85(3), 450–468. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2016.1246405
Kram, K. E. (1983). Phases of the mentor relationship. Academy of Management Journal, 26(4), 608-625. https://doi.org/10.2307/255910
Kram, K. E. (1985). Mentoring at work: Developmental relationships in organizational life. Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2019. The science of effective mentorship in STEMM. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25568.
Nettles, M., & Millett, C. (2006). Three magic letters : Getting to Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Pfund, C., Byars-Winston, A., Branchaw, J., Hurtado, S., & Eagan, K. (2016). Defining attributes and metrics of effective research mentoring relationships. AIDS and Behavior, 20(S2), 238–248. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-016-1384-z
Regents of the University of Michigan. (2020). Graduate student mentoring guide: A guide for students. http://www.rackham.umich.edu/faculty-and-staff/facilitating-scademic-su…-
Rose, G. L. (2005). Group differences in graduate students’ concepts of the ideal mentor. Research in Higher Education, 46(1), 53-80. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-004-6289-4
Rudolph, B., Castillo, C., Garcia, V., Martinez, A., & Navarro, F. (2015). Hispanic graduate students’ mentoring themes: Gender roles in a bicultural context. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 14(3), 191–206. https://doi.org/10.1177/1538192714551368
The importance of having a variety of mentors throughout your graduate experience
Developing a Scientific Identity in an Advisor's Shadow
Challenges faced with establishing yourself as an independent researcher separate from an influential advisor
Words of Wisdom: Dr. Anderson-Rowland
The importance of finding a good advisor and making sure to get everything in writing
Pros and Cons of an International Advisor
Experiences with an international advisor
How a positive advisor challenged his students to think for themselves
Special Characteristics of Your Advisor and Struggling with Life-Balance Issues
Advisor's experiences encourage well-informed career decisions
Urges students to seek multiple campus resources for support
The importance of being open and honest with your advisor
The tradeoffs and choices of graduate life
Suggestions for defining research
Explains that satisfaction comes from working with students and the opportunity to make new disco
Explains that satisfaction comes from working with students and the opportunity to make new disco
The importance of learning from mistakes and persisting despite setbacks.
The importance of learning from your effort, regardless of the outcome.
Advice on how to seek out support in graduate school and how to bounce back from setbacks.
Shares the excitement that comes from collaborating with others to make new discoveries.
Elaborates on the standard practice of science despite cultural differences.
Strategies for negotiating as a faculty member.
When it's time to graduate and when it's important to start learning on the job.
Highlights the transition into graduate level science where the answers aren't known.
The importance of goal setting and using others' experiences to make strong choices about your own p
Advice for balancing research and fun in graduate school.
Advice for students: stay focused, ask questions, and remain open-minded when working with others.
How to adapt experimental methods to match a lifestyle.
How to negotiate a schedule for raising a family and overcoming setbacks in a new career.
The importance of giving yourself credit and remembering why you are doing what you're doing.
The importance of peer relationships and the learning process that takes place despite concrete outc
Working with graduate students is a rewarding aspect of being a faculty member.
Advice for graduate students on how to maintain their confidence, courage, and dignity.
Emphasizes peer relationships and departmental climate.
How to handle being accused of having an affair with the advisor.
Explains an interdisciplinary branch of physics and the passion for research, service, and teaching.
Teaching as the impetus for work.
Discusses necessary precautions to take as a female student working late nights on campus.
Discusses necessary precautions to take as a female student working late nights on campus.
Being accused of cheating and regrets about not being more assertive.
Being accused of cheating and regrets about not being more assertive.
The importance of self-authorship and using graduate school as a process for self-definition.
Reminder that support can be found in unexpected places.
Urges female graduate students to persist in the field of mathematics because the field needs divers
How being unaware of being the only woman was advantageous to program success.
Alternatives to departmental isolation and the importance of networking.
Environmental issues faced in academia.
The importance of first impressions in choosing a graduate program.
Satisfaction comes from interacting with intelligent people across cultures.
Adjusting physical appearance to fit in with peers.
The importance of remembering that graduate school is only one part of a larger career.
Describes an incident of receiving a lower grade than a man for similar work.
The opportunity for freedom, growth, and collaboration as a faculty member.
How to survive the aftermath of a sexual harassment incident.
Highlights the gendered assumptions encountered as a faculty member.
The Importance of Having Positive Working Relationships: A Case Study
An alternative way to approach being the only woman in a given situation.
Contributions to the field are reflected through choices.
The importance of sharing stories of sexual harassment with others to gain support.
The importance of finding the right advisor to support your research goals.
How to handle being accused of having an affair with the advisor.
Explains when to confront a problem and when it may be better to maneuver around it.
How to be upfront, direct, and assertive when confronting instances of sexual harassment.
Highlights the universal customs of science.
Class performance builds confidence to remain in program.
Captures the annoyance of male colleagues making sexist assumptions and the challenges with conferen
The importance of recognizing the progress that has been made by women in science fields.
Advice for accomplishing your academic goals without making unnecessary compromises.
Emphasizes the challenge with saying no, but the importance of learning to do so.
How to make friends with colleagues to encourage a supportive environment.
Underscores the challenges that come from being the only woman in an academic department and gives s
Highlights an experience in which peers were not only colleagues, but also friends.
How the physical space in a laboratory allowed for collaboration among colleagues.
The importance of a good leader in setting standards for diversity, climate, and tenure policies.
How to observe others' reactions to subtle comments in order to gauge an appropriate response.
Urges students not to get wrapped into issues that do not directly involve them.
Departmental reactions to the choice to have children.
How to refute sexist comments and challenge gendered assumptions.
The importance of sharing stories of sexual harassment with others and realizing that you are not al
Confronting a male colleague with contradictory findings at a conference.
How colleagues can assist in making the transition into graduate life easier by sharing information
Captures the small but noticeable annoyances that come with being the only woman.
The importance of picking your battles to avoid unfair labeling.
Reminder that it is not necessary to feel comfortable socially to do good science.
Gender stereotypes faced in getting into graduate school and conducting research.
How to seek support from administrators outside the department when dealing with departmental sexism
The first realization that being a woman in science was outside the norm.
Challenges of being international and female, particularly with regards to an academic career and th
Suggestions for how to deal with sexist comments.
Playing a variety of roles as the only woman in the department.
The process of establishing yourself in the same department as your spouse.
Emphasizes positive peer relationships within her cohort.
The challenges of working in male-dominated academic environments and the negative stereotypes assoc
The feasibility of pursuing a family and science.
The importance of hearing other people's stories.
The importance of understanding priorities and allocating resources accordingly.
Advises how to keep family informed about research goals and progression from student to faculty mem
Explains some of the setbacks in dating relationships.
Advises students to continue to pursue their education because the payoff is self-respect.
The importance of believing in yourself, admitting your mistakes, and continuing to do what you love
How to accept non-traditional relationships and lifestyles in academia.
Notes the challenges of a dual career marriage and the obstacles in fighting for tenure and balancin
The process of overcoming setbacks related to career options and personal relationships.
How to balance motherhood responsibilities in graduate school.
The importance of supportive peer relationships.
Being married in graduate school and having children as a faculty member.
Advisor's experiences encourage well-informed career decisions.
The importance of a supportive network of colleagues.
Doing something useful to make a difference and how to appreciate a happy, supportive work environme
Taking time off before pursuing her PhD.
How a supportive department and a modified teaching schedule allowed for maternity leave.
How to sustain taking time off and pursuing the PhD later in life.
Advises how to keep family informed about research goals and progression from student to faculty mem
The importance of a supportive extended family in helping to balance school and children.
The importance of having a number of things in your life that bring you joy and satisfaction.
Understanding your strengths and weaknesses, but ultimately giving yourself recognition for your suc
The importance of learning over time and remaining positive in the face of criticism.
Motivation for doing work: interacting with students and doing research that can make a difference i
Emphasizes the challenge with saying no, but the importance of learning to do so.
The importance of remaining passionate and remembering that the PhD opens doors.
The importance of defining clear goals, remaining self-confident, and learning to say no.
The importance of allowing yourself the opportunity to change your mind and reconsider your goals.
The importance of knowing what you want and expecting tradeoffs on the path to get it.
Making discoveries and collaborating with others brings satisfaction.
Creating a schedule and meeting an advisor's expectations.
Advises graduate students to take a semester off if they choose to have a child because it is too ch
Explains the role children play in career choices.
Using leisure activities to relieve stress and build friendships.
The satisfaction that comes from working with colleagues and interacting with others.
The decision to get married in graduate school.
The importance of maintaining a balanced lifestyle to alleviate stress.
Addresses personal relationship sacrifices.
The importance of nurturing relationships outside of academia.
Explains the choice to have children in graduate school.
Challenges with being married to a fellow academician and finding faculty positions.
How a flexible schedule as a professor made it possible to have a family and a career.
The importance of evaluating your priorities to create balance and happiness.
Appreciation for advisor's assistance in transitioning to the US.
Emphasizes the joy in working with others and giving back to society.
Chronicles the evolution of a career over time.
Suggestions for how to increase women's participation in science with an emphasis on policy change.
The importance of being open and honest with your advisor.
How a positive advisor challenged his students to think for themselves.
Highlights the obstacles faced when trying to have research reviewed by the advisor and emphasizes t
The importance of having a variety of mentors throughout your graduate experience.
Challenges faced with establishing yourself as an independent researcher separate from an influentia
The importance of asking questions and searching for creative solutions to new problems.
The importance of finding a good advisor and making sure to get everything in writing.
Challenges in confronting the advisor with news of pregnancy.
Experiences with an international advisor.
How to maintain good relationships with colleagues while being motivated to finish the program qu
The importance of giving back to students and making an impact in their future education and care
An Arizona State University project, supported by the National Science Foundation under grants 0634519, 0910384 and 1761278
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. © 2021 CareerWISE. All rights reserved. Privacy | Legal
Comments
We want to hear from you. Did this page remind you of any experiences you’ve had? Did you realize something new? Please take a moment to tell us about it—and we’ll keep it confidential.