Tips on Finding and Being a Mentor in Graduate School

Katharine B. GamblePhD Candidate, ASE, UT-AustinKatharine.brumbaugh.gamble@gmail.com

Katherine R. AveryPhD Candidate, ME, Michigankatlee@umich.edu

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Mentoring Experience

Katharine Gamble Katherine Avery

Mentor:◦ Graduates Linked with

Undergraduates in Engineering (GLUE)

◦ Texas Spacecraft Lab

◦ Grad SWE (at UT-Austin, regional, and national)

Mentee:◦ Internships

◦ Informal relationship with professors, advisors, etc.

◦ Conference contacts

Mentor:◦ Undergraduate Research

Opportunities Program (UROP)

◦ Michigan Mentorship Program

◦ Grad/Undergrad programs through CoE at U of M

◦ GradSWE (at UofM, regional and national)

Mentee:◦ Informal relationships with

advisors (undergrad and grad)

Why do you think it’s important to have a mentor?

The Importance of Mentoring

The Importance of Mentoring

The Importance of Mentoring "Mentoring can facilitate positive socialization among

women to STEM fields by encouraging interaction with successful individuals and by providing [career] support... Coupled with other programmatic initiatives, mentoring relationships are a key element in encouraging retention and success of women in STEM fields."

Overview: Mentoring and Women in Engineering by Catherine Amelink, SWE-AWE-CASEE ARP Resources (2009)

"It was hard without having female mentors in the field. It would have helped to have someone to talk with about issues. Male mentors are helpful with career advice ...but it does not feel like they truly understand the burdens that women face...in such a male-dominated field as engineering.”

Stemming the Tide: Why Women Leave Engineering by Nadya Fouad and Romila Singh, National Science Foundation (2011)

The Importance of Mentoring

Women with sponsors are more likely to ask for stretch assignments and pay raises

The Sponsor Effect: Breaking Through the Last Glass Ceiling by Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Kerrie Peraino, Laura Sherbin and Karen Sumberg , Harvard Business Review (2011)

Women who are mentored and sponsored report having more career success, greater job satisfaction and more career commitment

Tammy D Allen et al., Career Benefits Associated with Mentoring for Protégés: A Meta-Analysis, Journal of Applied Psychology 89, 1 (2004): 127-136

What does a mentor do for you?

Mentors should…•Help you

solidify your career goals

•Guide you through coursework options

•Advocate for you

•Encourage you to find internships, research opportunities

•Assist you with “soft skills” (time management, adjusting to university, finding your place, etc.)

•Connect you with internships, lab openings, etc.

Undergrads

•Help you find your “fit”

•Assist you in the transition to graduate school

•Support you through life changes

•Encourage you to integrate work and life

•Help you solidify your career goals

•Share knowledge about their experiences

•Provide you with general knowledge about your career path

•Help you find funding

•Connect you with professionals in your field

Grads

•Support you through life changes

•Provide constructive and support feedback

•Demystify departmental, college and university culture

•Advocate for you

•Provide information about promotion and tenure processes

•Help foster important connections and visibility

•Assist with grant writing, etc.

Faculty

What types of mentor-mentee relationships are there?

Types of Mentor Relationships

Faculty-Student

Faculty-Faculty

Student-Student

Student to Student Mentoring

Mentoring relationships can develop through◦ Formal peer advising programs◦ Personal connections◦ Classes, homework groups, teaching assistantships

The primary goal is to◦ Help students navigate college life and courses◦ Enable students to achieve their educational goals◦ Share common experiences between students to

improve social wellness and mental health

Student to Student Mentoring

How to◦ Look for existing programs through your

department or college and use the resources of your department/college/school (email lists and facilities)

◦ Connect students with similar and dissimilar experiences (both older and younger)

◦ Strive to develop a one-on-one relationship through informal communication and personal meetings

◦ Talk about difficulties faced in making decisions, tackling certain situations, etc.

◦ Focus on achieving educational goals

Student to Student Mentoring

Benefits◦ Helps new students adapt to the new learning

environment more quickly◦ Provides a good combination of support and

encouragement in an informal setting◦ Guides students to expand their learning and

participation in education and developmental opportunities

◦ Goes well with faculty advising◦ Often happens without knowing it’s going on!

Faculty to Student Mentoring

Mentoring relationships can develop through◦ Department or college mixers◦ Classes, projects and labs◦ Formal mentoring programs

The primary goal is to◦ Create a focused academic community for women ◦ Improve retention in engineering programs◦ Give engineering women additional departmental

resources beyond their professors and advisers

Faculty to Student Mentoring

How to◦ Remember: Everyone is busy!◦ Consider the difference between networking and

match making◦ Take advantage of your

department/university/school and its resources (scheduling tools, facilities, email lists, funds)

◦ Assess your goal to determine your structure◦ Have a purpose (outreach, recruitment, games and

fitness, community service)◦ Have a mutual goal for faculty and students◦ Reshape your approach as your community grows

and matures

Faculty to Student Mentoring

Benefits◦ Provides undergraduate and graduate students with

strong faculty role models◦ Eases academic transitions◦ Enables effective academic advising◦ Facilitates discussion of aligning academic and

professional career goals◦ Mentoring for graduate students is “near-peer”

Faculty to Faculty Mentoring

Mentoring relationships can develop through◦ Formal and informal programs◦ Connections outside the department or university

The primary goal is to◦ Help female faculty achieve promotion and tenure◦ Retain female engineering faculty◦ Improve teaching and enhance career satisfaction

Faculty to Faculty Mentoring

How to◦ Use existing programs in your

department/college/university◦ Use the resources of your department or college to

establish connections with faculty outside your department (funds for travel, etc.)

◦ Time is precious: use your mentor only for questions you cannot find the answer to yourself

◦ Seek multiple mentors to address different needs◦ Be proactive to interact with your mentor

Faculty to Faculty Mentoring

Benefits◦ Young faculty receive direction for their activities

that benefit their careers while senior faculty receive enhanced career satisfaction

◦ Collaborative efforts are improved within departments and to other units internal and external to the university

◦ Mentor and protégé receive positive benefits from engaging in mentoring activities during faculty reviews

Ok, so how do you go about finding a mentor?

Strategies for Finding a Mentor

Take a critical self-appraisal◦ What are my academic and professional objectives? ◦ What type of training do I desire? ◦ What are my strengths? What skills do I need to

develop? ◦ What engages me?

Identify potential mentors◦ Formal and informal programs◦ Social activities and mixers

Avoid limiting your options◦ Don’t expect one mentor to meet all your needs.

Be creative!

A few things to remember…

No one mentoring system meets all needs

No one mentor meets all needsMentoring is easiest in a culture of trust

and collaborationRemember time is valuableBuild mentoring relationships through

personal connections and shared experiences

Many resources exist for mentoring…find them and use them!

Finding a MentorTo help you find a mentor, or at least start the search, check out the following

resources: http://mentornet.net/ -- You can have an industry, gov't or academic mentor.

These are for undergrads, grad students (MS or PhD), post docs and early faculty (not yet tenured).

http://www.awis.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=37 -- This is a mentoring handbook written by the Association of Women in Science (AWIS). AWIS also offers mentoring programs usually at the local chapter level that are geared toward PhD level women grad students in STEM. They also have had some great webinars about how to find mentors and what type of mentors you need.

http://www.fabfems.org/ -- This website is part of the Million Women Mentors effort out of the White House to engage mentors in STEM. This site also has mentoring resources at http://www.fabfems.org/resources. For all who sign up, they can tell their STEM story and indicate how they want to be a mentor (just listed online so people can read about them, open to contacts via email if kids have questions, etc.). You can also find mentors and role models here!

https://www.millionwomenmentors.org/#home If people want to be a role model or mentor, Techbridge also has great resources

at http://techbridgegirls.org/index.php?id=29. The ADVANCE program also has a compilation of mentoring resources that may

be useful now or as graduates head into faculty positions: http://www.portal.advance.vt.edu/index.php/tags/Mentoring.

Have you participated in any formal/informal mentor programs?

What did you think of these programs?

Structured vs. Unstructured Programs

Structured programs take the pressure off junior women from having to ask the difficult “are you my mentor?” question

Why Men Still Get More Promotions than Women by Herminia Ibarra, Nancy M. Carter, and Christine Silva, Harvard Business Review (2010)

Some faculty may feel more secure asking for help when a senior faculty member has invited them to ask

Report of the Faculty Mentoring Study, The Provost's Advisory Committee on Mentoring and Community Building, University of Michigan (2012)

• Nobody…can advance without good informal networks because of the fact that if people don’t like you, there are a hundred thousand ways they can screw you.

Separate and Unequal: The Nature of Women’s and Men’s Career-Building Relationships by Susan Schor, Business Hornizons (1997)

• Informal mentoring…consists of two people who are compatible and get together to share ideas and learn from each other. 

The Power of Informal Mentoring by Tammy Patterson and Mark Korf, The Bencher (2013)

Contact Us!

Katharine B. GamblePhD Candidate, ASE, UT-AustinKatharine.brumbaugh.gamble@gmail.com

Katherine R. AveryPhD Candidate, ME, Michigankatlee@umich.edu

References Overview: Mentoring and Women in Engineering by Catherine Amelink,

SWE-AWE-CASEE ARP Resources (2009)

Stemming the Tide: Why Women Leave Engineering by Nadya Fouad and Romila Singh, National Science Foundation (2011)

The Sponsor Effect: Breaking Through the Last Glass Ceiling by Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Kerrie Peraino, Laura Sherbin and Karen Sumberg , Harvard Business Review (2011)

Tammy D Allen et al., Career Benefits Associated with Mentoring for Protégés: A Meta-Analysis, Journal of Applied Psychology 89, 1 (2004): 127-136

Why Men Still Get More Promotions than Women by Herminia Ibarra, Nancy M. Carter, and Christine Silva, Harvard Business Review (2010)

Report of the Faculty Mentoring Study, The Provost's Advisory Committee on Mentoring and Community Building, University of Michigan (2012)

Separate and Unequal: The Nature of Women’s and Men’s Career-Building Relationships by Susan Schor, Business Hornizons (1997)

The Power of Informal Mentoring by Tammy Patterson and Mark Korf, The Bencher (2013)

Elevator Pitch Practicing!