1. Research and Mentoring
  2. Mentorship

Mentorship

Being an effective graduate mentor or advisor is crucial in supporting UNC Charlotte graduate students. The resources listed below can help you improve your mentor and advisor effectiveness.

Tools for Mentors

Mentoring Compacts:  These are agreements that state-specific expectations for mentees. Compacts are most useful for mentee groups, such as students in a lab setting. These agreements can be shared with a group of students at the beginning of the working relationship. Download this example.

Individual Development Plans (IDP): Individual Development Plans are similar to compacts in that they include specific expectations for the mentee, but IDPs go beyond general expectations. These plans are tailored to the individual student and lay out a roadmap for the development throughout their program and beyond. IDPs are intended to be updated annually. These documents are developed collaboratively between the mentee and mentor, and should reflect the career path targeted by the mentee.  Download this IDP template which has been designed for UNC Charlotte, but can be tailored as needed.

Graduate School Mentor Training:  Provided by the Graduate School, sessions are held throughout the year.  These intensive, day-long sessions are based on the practices of the CIMER Institute. View the Mentor Training web page for information.

Mentee Training: The Reynolds Center for Graduate Life and Learning will offer three sessions of Mentee Training this fall. Developed using the curriculum from the Center for Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER), this program is meant for doctoral research students to build skills to successfully navigate research endeavors. We'll cover how to build and manage your relationship with your advisor and mentors, how to work well with your labmates and have a successful research experience, and how to plan for and develop a career path that is just right for you. 

Each session will last three hours and begin with lunch, networking and introductions. We recommend you attend all three sessions sequentially. If you can't make them all, they can also stand alone.

Advising Resources

Definitions:  Graduate Advisors v. Mentors

Advising and mentoring may, in some circumstances, be the same thing.  Often these roles differ.  Advising may be more procedural and process based.  Advisors are often assigned, rather than chosen.  In contrast, mentors are typically selected.  A graduate student can and should have multiple mentors, but typically only one advisor.

At the graduate level, advising is more than helping students select classes. While that is certainly a component, advisors help students stay on track by scheduling and reviewing milestones.  Advisors may refer students to appropriate resources based on their career or research interests. This broader scope represents the more complex needs of graduate students. 

Effective Advising

Whether advising is done by a staff member or a faculty member, there are ways to improve the effectiveness and outcomes of advising. 

Clear communication: Clearly communicate your expectations for the student. How often will you meet? What does the student need to prepare prior to the meeting? If the program has a typical timeline, that should be shared with the student early on. 

Acknowledge your style: Tell students up-front if you are a facilitator, cheerleader, or technical advisor. Explain your preferred communication style.

Supporting progress toward their degree

Many graduate students will engage in research as part of their degree.  Research, as well as other opportunities, can lead to competition within a program or lab group.  Advisors can help prevent some of these behaviors by understanding faculty expectations and by knowing which resources are available to support students.  This Progress Toward Degree site offers suggestions for faculty and students. It includes resources for resolving conflicts between students and advisors/mentors. 

Understanding Academic Policies

Advisors are not expected to be experts on policy, but it is important that students get accurate information when they seek clarification or direction. For questions about graduate academic policy, reach out to the Director of Graduate Academic Services Lauren Coffey. She can respond to questions about substitutions, transfer credit, electives, etc.

Course planning

Central to the advising function is helping students select courses and stay on track with their degree progression.  DegreeWorks is the tool that we use for tracking degree progress. This Quick Reference Guide for DegreeWorks will help advisors understand how to access DegreeWorks and how to understand the basics of an audit. It is vital that advisors use DegreeWorks rather than other systems or paper tracking of degree progress.  This system is used to clear students for graduation and it is the official tracking tool for the university.

Department chairs and Program directors should work closely with faculty to ensure that courses are sequenced and offered in ways that increase the likelihood of students progressing toward their degree efficiently. 

Degreeworks Reports: Graduate Program Directors can subscribe to a weekly report, which is generated through DegreeWorks, that shows all students in the program based on their progress. 

Notes in DegreeWorks: Because graduate programs usually have faculty serving as advisors, the graduate programs are not using the Connect Tool.  Instead, faculty and advisors are encouraged to use the “notes” function in DegreeWorks to document recommendations, exceptions, etc. 

Online Sources

Mentoring Resources for Faculty and Mentees

The University of Wisconsin Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research offers a wide range of resources and tools for improving mentoring.  Materials are grouped by level and discipline, creating a “curriculum” for mentoring.

Faculty Guide to Mentoring Graduate Students

This faculty guide was created by the University of Hawaii at Manoa and discusses the importance of mentoring graduate students.  It also includes self-assessments and checklists that mentors can use.

Faculty/Staff Toolkit for Mentoring Graduate Students

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign created this helpful toolkit that shows how to set expectations, provide constructive feedback and more.

Great Mentoring in Graduate School: A quick start guide for protégés

This guide by Laura Gail Lunsford and Vicki L. Baker provides a practical, student-oriented perspective informed by the authors’ experience and research on mentoring. The guide covers topics such as identifying a mentor, engaging with mentors to develop a professional identity, cultivating networks, and serving as a mentor to others.

How to Mentor Graduate Students: A Guide for Faculty

In addition to providing general suggestions for good mentoring practice, this handbook from Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan explores some of the special challenges and rewards of advising an increasingly diverse graduate student population.

Mentoring and Advising

From the Ph.D. Completion Project of the Council of Graduate Schools, this source explores the distinctions between mentoring and advising and identifies specific practices for mentoring graduate students.

Mentoring: A Guide for Faculty

For both an understanding of the mentoring role and step-by-step strategies, this guide from the University of Washington Graduate School addresses mentoring for international students and students with disabilities, and the role that age and experience, race and ethnicity, and disadvantaged socioeconomic background plays in determining student success.

The Impact of Racism

Racism and bias are significant reasons Black Americans are underrepresented in the fields of science, engineering, and medicine.  This resource identifies "key levers, drivers, and disruptors in government, industry, health care and higher education where actions can have the most impact on increasing the participation of Black men and Black women in science, medicine, and engineering."

The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM

This is a comprehensive guide and sources of resources for mentors in the sciences. 

Journal Articles and Publications

Best Practices

Diversity Awareness in Mentoring 

Mentoring Roles and Relationships

Ethics and Authorship

Additional Resources