 Mentorship Cindi Morshead, Professor and Chair, Division of Anatomy Graduate Coordinator, Institute of Medical Science

The basics

Skills of a mentor  Listening  Building trust  Ability to encourage  Identifying goals and current reality  Providing corrective feedback  Inspiring and good motivator  Developing capabilities in mentees

It’s never too early to discuss evaluation criteria  Established independence  Recognition (National and International)  Talks  Scientific review panels  Productivity (publications; the value of review articles)  Teaching  Get a graduate appointment!

Mentoring Junior Faculty  Check in with mentee if they haven’t heard anything in a while.  Point mentees to someone who can help if you can’t  Ask about and praise accomplishments  Help junior faculty members identify and build on their own strengths.  Inform your department head if you have questions or concerns.

Mentoring students

Communication – the key to success  Outline from the start:  Open dialogue about career aspirations/future goals as this will help to formulate the project.  Expectations of the student – have a frank and honest discussion  Set goals – short and long term, time to completion  Set up regular meetings (weekly/biweekly)  Share with student the good and the challenges  Encourage work-life balance

Program Advisory Committees – choose carefully  Engage people who can offer complementary expertise that you may not have in your own lab.  Make sure there is someone on the PAC that has successfully supervised a student to completion of a graduate degree  Honest evaluations of the students – protect yourself and your student  Regular meetings are critical  Consider this when putting together a PAC  Don’t wait for results

Common issues – get advice Students under stress Unmotivated students Poor progress Unethical conduct Student funding Time to completion Challenges with Student-Supervisor relationship