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Establishing a Good Relationship and Designing a Project

 

Reading:

  • In asking, "What is a Mentor?"  the authors seek to define this unque role in Advisor, Teacher, Role Model, Friend. National Academy Press, 1997.
  • Arguing that "we should train graduate students to be educators as well as researchers," Jo Handelsman advocates for Teaching Scientists to Teach" in "HHMI Bulletin, June 2003," Entering Mentoring, 2005.

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Establishing Expectations and Maintaining Effective Communication

A critical element of effective mentor-mentee relationships is a mutual understanding of what each person expects of the other, which often changes over time, and such understanding is dependent on quality communication. 

 

Reading:

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Elements of Effective Mentoring

Though everyone approaches mentoring differently, there are some common themes that most mentoring philosophies share. 

 

Reading:

  • In "Nature's Guide for Mentors" Adrian Lee, Carina Dennis, and Philip Campbell asser that "having a good mentor early in your career can mean the difference between success and failure in any
    field" (Nature, 2007).

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Mentoring Challenges and Solutions

 

Reading:

  • In “Mentoring Learned, Not Taught – Identifying Challenges” (2005) Jo Handelsman et al. observe that “after we have worked with a student for a few weeks or months, we may begin to see performance issues that didn’t emerge immediately” and offer “some questions for reflection and sample situations to provoke thought about dealing with these very complex, very human mentoring challenges” (53).  

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Dealing with Ethics: RCR, IRB, IACUC and Beyond

Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR), Institutional Review Board (IRB), scientific misconduct, and conflict of interest among other ethics considerations are areas to think about.
 
Optional Reading:

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Assessing Understanding and Fostering Independence

 

Reading:

  • In the “Benefits of Undergraduate Research Experiences” (2007) Susan H. Russell et al. argue that “no formulaic combination of activities optimizes undergraduate research experiences, nor should providers structure their programs differently for unique racial/ethnic minorities or women; rather, it seems the inculcation of enthusiasm is the key element—and the earlier the better” (549).
  • In “Mentoring Undergraduates” (On Being a Mentor, 2007) W. Brad Johnson considers “the prevalence of mentoring in college, reviews some of the key developmental models bearing on young adulthood, and summarizes some of the salient mentor functions required of the effective college student mentor” (119).

 

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