Grad Mentoring @ Illinois
A Faculty Mentoring Network
for Traditionally Underrepresented Graduate Students
What is Grad Mentoring @ Illinois?
Grad Mentoring @ Illinois is a mentoring network that promotes increased recruitment, retention, and successful academic and career outcomes for traditionally underrepresented racial and ethnic minority graduate students. It facilitates relationships for students that go beyond their assigned academic- and research-advisors and expands connections across campus communities. The network matches students with faculty who are interested in guiding students through aspects of the graduate experience and transitioning into life beyond graduate school.
Mentor and mentee are encouraged to meet regularly throughout the academic year and to participate in at least one annual gathering hosted by the Graduate College. Grad Mentoring @ Illinois is part of a larger Graduate College initiative to broaden participation at Illinois and create an environment where a diverse body of graduate students can realize their potential contributions to their respective fields and disciplines.
Why do you need a mentor?
Current research suggests that mentoring and mentoring relationships are integral to graduate experiences, degree completion and career outcomes of graduate students. Regardless of the discipline, there are professional norms and practices, disciplinary cultures and expectations that are mostly learned by actively engaging with peers and faculty.
Traditionally underrepresented minority graduate students often report feelings of isolation and a lack of meaningful connections to faculty and peers, which can impact graduate school experiences. These persistent realities complicate access to knowledge and resources that may enhance academic and career outcomes.
Who are the Mentors?
The mentoring network consists of current Illinois faculty. They offer students opportunities to build and strengthen their connection to the campus; address issues of isolation; and gain insight and understanding of the formal and informal ways for balancing expectations, meeting academic requirements, and transitioning beyond graduate school.
The Mentor-Student Match
Grad Mentoring @ Illinois pairs may come from all over campus and students are encouraged to think broadly about their experiences and needs as they consider the best mentor fit for them. Upon admission, students are generally assigned to academic advisers and at some point identify and begin to work with a research advisor who will direct their dissertation research. A mentor/mentee pair, though, may be a faculty member in Latina/Latino Studies and a graduate student working in computer science; a dean in Engineering and a graduate student in mathematics; or a director of a social science research institute and a graduate student in the humanities.
The mentor is not expected to bring disciplinary insight. Academic and research advisors provide this particular expertise. Mentors, on the other hand, contribute a depth and breadth of knowledge and experience that supports the broader negotiations of graduate student status on the Illinois campus.
More information for interested students
More Information for interested mentors