Finding and being a mentor Margaret Fraiser, UW-Milwaukee Jennifer Wenner, UW Oshkosh Preparing for an Academic Career workshop, May 31- June 3, 2015 Content heavily borrowed from presentation by R. O’Brien and B. Walker at the Academic Career workshop 2014

Definition of a mentor  A wise guide  Someone who sees potential in another person and encourages human growth

Definition of a mentee  A motivated seeker  Someone who gains skills, insight, and/or growth from a relationship with another person

Benefits of mentoring  For the mentor:  Personally rewarding  Interpersonal skill development  Improved advising skills  Gain new collaborators  For the mentee:  Career selection  Goal clarification  Expansion of one’s network  Better understanding of the discipline’s culture/norms

Reflect on your mentors.  What is/was their relationship to you?  What, specifically, did they provide you?  How, exactly, did they accomplish this?

Reflect on your mentors.  What is/was their relationship to you?

Who might serve as a mentor?  Parent or other family member  Religious leader (priest, rabbi, imam)  Coach or teammate  Teacher  Graduate student and/or lab manager  Colleague

Reflect on your mentors.  What, specifically, did they provide you?

What does mentoring produce?  Sharpened skills  Honed thinking and creation of meaning  Expanded awareness, insight, and perspective  Increased self-confidence  Professional and/or personal productivity  “Safe space” to offer and exchange ideas

Reflect on your mentors.  How, exactly, did they accomplish this?

What constitutes mentoring?  Respectful listening and/or observation  Objective feedback  Providing appropriate information at an opportune time  Empowering someone to create a change  Encouraging exploration of options

What does a mentor do?  Makes observations  Answers questions  Provides prompts, with an eye toward “next steps”  Introduces the mentee to others and helps expand his/her network

What defines this type of relationship?  Mutual respect and trust  Commitment to regular communication  Constructive exploration and reflection  Duration: months to decades  Structure: formal or informal

Communication  Regular (not rushed)  Substantive (goes beyond “updates”)  Follow-through on promises (both sides)  Confidential

Finding a mentor  Identify the type of guidance you are seeking (research, teaching, work-life balance, etc.)  Use your professional and social network to identify prospective mentors.  Choose someone with whom you are comfortable speaking openly.

Mentoring your students  Some students may seek you out as a mentor. Other times, you may identify particular students as prospective mentees.  Be prepared to mentor about academic and non-academic issues  A mentor is not a therapist or an advice columnist.  The goal of mentoring isn’t to produce a clone of yourself.

What might be some challenges to finding an effective mentor? What might be some challenges to serving as an effective mentor?