Project Background Results Amanda Krueger & Tiffany Huynh  Dr. Robert J. Eierman  ORSP  University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire prioritieschallenges The Mindful Mentoring Project is part of a larger ORSP effort to define effective mentoring and help mentors learn to mentor well. This project is an attempt to gain an in-depth understanding of the priorities and challenges of mentors. First, a group of faculty and staff wrote a document that defined mentor characteristics and practices. Second, a survey was created to attain the knowledge of mentoring perceptions and practices at the UW-Eau Claire. The survey was built following the structure of the definition document. Mindful Mentoring: Faculty Perceptions of Undergraduate Mentoring Practices Mindful Mentoring: Faculty Perceptions of Undergraduate Mentoring Practices Survey Design Conclusions We thank the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs for supporting this research, and Learning & Technology Services for printing this poster. Acknowledgements The survey was sent to about 350 faculty and staff who have received ORSP funding for collaborative research with students in the past 5 years ( ). There were 6 paired items on different categories of mentoring collaborative projects with students. The format of the paired items is as follows: 1. When DESIGNING an undergraduate research project, how much do you consider each of the following aspects? This item then offered a set of issues to respond to using a five-point scale from Not at All to A Great Deal. 2. When thinking about DESIGN aspects, explain what you find most challenging and why. This item was a free response text entry item. Five demographic questions were asked as well. Effective Mentoring Design Student Recruitment Initial Stages Continuing Stages Final Stages Scholarly Environment REFERENCES:  Johnson, W. Brad, 2007, On Being a Mentor: A Guide for Higher Education Faculty. Mahwah, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 260pp.  Malachowski, Mitchell, 1996, The Mentoring Role in Undergraduate Research. CURQ, Winter 1996; Volume 12,  Wadkins, Theresa and Richard Miller, 2008, Bending Twigs: The Act of Mentoring Undergraduate Student Research. In R.L. Miller, R.F. Rucek, E. Balcetis, S. Barney, S. Burns, R. Smith, and M.E. Ware (Eds.), Developing, promoting and sustaining the undergraduate research experience in psychology. Syracuse, NY: Society for the Teaching of Psychology, Recruitment ConsiderationsMean Provoking student curiosity, confidence and appreciation of undergraduate reasearch 4.13 Explaining rewards and responsibilities of undergraduate research to students 3.87 Developing student awareness and understanding of undergraduate research 3.79 Other RECRUITMENT aspect3.17 Utilizing intentional, structured hiring practices2.69 Ensuring that recruitment efforts reach ALL students2.40 Scholarly Environment ConsiderationsMean Regular encouragement, support and counsel4.39 Support student long-term goals: nurture student's passion and growth 4.11 Be open and encourage student to develop realistic expectations 4.07 Foster increasing mutuality and collegiality4.03 Provide clear, constructive critique of student performance and behavior 3.82 Provide professional socialization3.44 Foster networks or other mentoring relationships3.30 Quotations about Challenges Considerations and Challenges Response Summary Overall we can draw several conclusions regarding the priorities and challenges of research mentors:  Mentor responses did not significantly differ across the categories, although there are some valuable trends.  Mentors consider design and initial stages the most and student recruitment the least.  Males and females differed in several ways:  Males had higher averages when considering scholarly environment  Females had higher averages when considering continuing stages  Females had higher overall averages  Mentors indicated that recruitment was the most challenging stage. Demographic Patterns Recruitment Challenges:  Student Attributes (46 responses)  Recruitment Process/Organization (29 responses) Trade Offs  Recruit all students vs. only those who are motivated/qualified  Recruit students with experience vs. potential  Recruit known students vs. unknown students Explanation of Charts and Graphs: The charts on the right represent the responses to the survey questions regarding priorities and challenges of research mentors in two different categories of the survey. The graph above depicts the overall range of scores for mentoring priorities across the mentoring categories. The chart on the top right shows the results for the differences in the priorities between faculty who are in various stages of their careers. The bottom right graph depicts the differences in the priorities between men and women across the mentoring categories. Future Considerations:  Create a survey to gain insight on the point of view of Undergraduate Researchers  Apply these results to create materials for best practice in regards to effective mentoring