Faculty-AGEP Scholar Mentoring Initiative

Mentoring continues to be a critical success factor for retention and degree completion for Ph.D. students, and it is even more critical for students who are underrepresented in their field of study. Although effective mentoring begins with a faculty member, the graduate student must share the responsibility with him or her.

The Rackham Graduate School at the University of Michigan has made significant strides in increasing effective mentoring throughout graduate education. Mentoring guides have been developed for both the faculty and students. The Mentoring Others Results in Excellence (MORE) Committee was established to help faculty members improve their skills in mentoring students through faculty training, consultation and web resources. U-M’s Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) offers several workshops and resources on mentoring for both faculty members and students. The CRLT Players develop and perform sketches that engage faculty members and graduate students in discussions of multicultural teaching and learning, and institutional climate.

The Faculty-AGEP Scholar Mentoring Initiative’s aim was to enhance mentoring skills for 18 second- and third-year AGEP SBES and STEM doctoral students and their faculty mentors through a six-hour workshop using the resources of U-M AGEP, Rackham, MORE, the CRLT and the CRLT Players. Both mentors and their protégés were invited and were required to attend the workshop together.

The workshop opened with a plenary session that provided an overview of issues germane to effective mentoring, such as the nature of mentoring relationships, challenges, mutual benefits, roles, and resources. The CRLT Players presented vignettes on mentoring, followed by homogeneous (faculty-only, student-only) small group discussions. The participants then reassembled for large group reporting.

After lunch, students and faculty members attended separate breakout sessions. The AGEP scholars’ session, facilitated by CRLT, focused on how to obtain the mentoring they need. The faculty session, facilitated by MORE, identified strategies for effective mentoring. The final session was a joint mentor-mentee action-planning session co-facilitated by MORE and CRLT. Action plans incorporated strategies identified throughout the workshop to address issues unique to each mentoring relationship, and strategies for enhancing mentoring in their department. Students submitted plans approved by their faculty mentors for review by Rackham one week after the workshop.

Next, AGEP scholars and their mentors will begin to implement their action plans. Activities may include teaching mentoring strategies, helping scholars expand their team of mentors, or developing skills, such as grant writing, that are critical for the professoriate.

Scholars received a total of $2,500 of summer funding for participation in the program to support activities outlined in the mentoring action plans. Faculty mentors received a small token for their participation in the program.

Prior to the workshop, students and faculty members completed a survey about their current mentoring relationship. A followup survey will be administered six months after the initial workshop. Evaluations of the workshop showed that both faculty members and students found the action-planning session to be the most valuable part of the day.

This is just one of the many programs developed at the University of Michigan and supported by AGEP funding. For more information contact Debby Mitchell.