(IMHO) Good Practices for Graduate Supervision Jonathan Newman Director, School of Environmental Sciences

Some General Principles Master and apprenticeship? Mentor your students: – Academia is the alternative career path – Help them engage in career enhancing activities – What’s good for them vs. easy for you? Different students require different sorts of supervision — what worked for you won’t work for everyone!

Some General Principles Model good behaviour: – Time management – Financial management – Giving/receiving criticism Set clear and reasonable expectations – Yours for them, theirs for you, theirs for themselves – What is your job versus their job?

Some General Principles It’s a relationship – Requires work – Can ‘go bad’ – Difficult to judge from the outside – Doesn’t involve equal partners Friendly vs. friends – There’s the power thing – There’s the money thing – Being their ‘boss’

Some Specific Advice Choose wisely! – Grades vs. research experience – ‘Meet’ them — invest the $$ if need be – What would it be like to work closely with this person? – Have them meet (some of) your current or past graduate students, without you, and tell your students to be honest! – Ask them to write something and/or read something for your meeting

Some Specific Advice Regularly scheduled meetings: as individuals and as a group Use work plans from day one – Help them set small goals and stick to them – Have them provide written reports on progress Use the damn form! Use the damn committee! If/when they seek outside help for their relationship with you

Advice to Remember Get some from others — there are no revealed truths about graduate training