+ Mentoring and Difference : The project The model The challenges The opportunities Miriam Marty Clark, Associate Professor of English, Auburn University Francine Parker, Associate Professor of Nursing, Auburn University Pamela Stamm, Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice, Auburn University What We Can Learn from Students Who are Not Like Us

+ The Project and its Context Auburn is Alabama’s largest land-grant university with an enrollment of about 20,000 undergraduates and 5,000 graduate and first professional students. The ePortfolio Project serves as the “Quality Enhancement Plan,” required by our regional accrediting agency. It is associated with an expansive University Writing Initiative and supported by the Office of University Writing.

+ A Provocative Model Andrew Solomon, Far from the Tree “Because of the transmission of identity from one generation to the next, most children share at least some traits with their parents. These are vertical identities. Attributes and values are passed down from parent to child across the generations not only through strands of DNA but also through shared cultural norms. Ethnicity, for example, is a vertical identity.”

“Often, however, someone has an inherited or acquired trait that is foreign to his or her parents and must therefore acquire identity from a peer group. This is a horizontal identity. “A child’s marked difference from the rest of the family demands knowledge, competence, and actions that a typical mother and father are unqualified to supply, at least initially.”

+ Not Lost in Translation Students’ professional paths are “like ours.” Our own experience equips us to mentor their professional development. Students follow paths that are distinctively different from ours. Mentoring them requires knowledge, competence, and actions we may need to develop. Vertical Horizontal

+ Perspectives: English There are very few jobs “like ours” for new Ph.D.s Students know little about employment outside academia. Faculty know little about employment outside academia.

+ Effective Mentoring in English Identify components of discipline specific skills. Recognize the transferability of these to other kinds of work. Design experiences and assignments to help students master component skills. Design ePortfolio guidelines that help students assess, integrate, and demonstrate these skills.

+ Perspectives: Nursing Challenges Ways of Thinking Openness: Cultivating a Career Path

+ Mentoring vertical horizontal Mentor students earlier in the professional program Facilitate cultivation of nursing philosophy Provide opportunities for reflective practice in classroom and clinical learning experiences Modify existing method of ePortfolio assessment

Year 4: Year 3: Year 2: Year 1: Year 4: Year 3: Year 2: Year 1: Perspectives in Pharmacy Advanced Practice in Hospitals, Clinics, and Community Pharmacies Drug Science Skills Early Practice Electives Drug Science Skills Early Practice Management & Communication Drug Science Skills Early Practice Drug Information & Law Advanced Practice in Hospitals, Clinics, and Community Pharmacies Drug Science Skills Early Practice Electives Drug Science Skills Early Practice Management & Communication Drug Science Skills Early Practice Drug Information & Law

+ Pharmacy Academia Patient Care Provider Community Pharmacist Owner / Manager Hospital Pharmacist Insurance / claims reviewer / formulary reviewer Drug information Long Term Care / Consulting Home Infusion Medical Writer / Editor Informatics Poison Control Medical Missions Specialty Pharmacy Compounding Clinical Coordinator

+ Horizontal Thinking & ePortfolios: Be Open, Aware, and a Connector Guide students toward identifying personal and professional goals Encourage formalized career exploration Discuss how knowledge, skills, and attitudes learned apply to their career Encourage extra-curricular activities consistent with their chosen path Connect students with vertical mentors

+ Thinking Horizontal

+ Knowledge, Competence, and Action: Equipping ourselves as Mentors Describe vertical and horizontal identities within our own disciplines. Identify the specific mentoring needs of students whose paths diverge from our own. Share this knowledge with our colleagues in our discipline and work with them to tailor ePortfolio strategies and assignments to the needs of divergent students.

+ Faculty Development and Collaboration Across the Disciplines Identify common needs of divergent students Develop broad ePortfolio assignments, strategies, attitudes, and practices that encourage personal and professional self-discovery for all students. Share mentoring experiences and challenges. Maintain wide-ranging conversations about the ePortfolio and its use by students and programs.