Mentoring Matters
Date:
12/16/2009
Under the best conditions, “no more than three-quarters of students who enter doctoral programs complete their degrees” despite demonstrated academic ability, according to the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS). Looked at nationally, this high attrition rate has some serious disadvantages for individuals who may invest significant time and money toward an unearned degree, for academic institutions that invest resources in those students, and for the national workforce which sees a shrinking pool of highly educated, domestic talent.
Illinois is one of 29 institutions across the US and Canada to participate in the PhD Completion Project, a seven-year study to identify factors associated with attrition and completion, and to develop successful interventions strategies. So what are those factors? A recent publication of data collected from this study indicates that mentoring is one of a few key factors leading to successful degree completion, along with financial and family support.
An important part of the student lifecycle, proactive mentoring helps students achieve their degrees and may even reduce time to degree. Mentoring graduate students is an important part of a faculty member’s responsibility. It is a satisfying experience to prepare graduate students to become successful professionals, but it can also be very challenging. Faculty may at times wish they had our own mentors to help with the wide array of issues that can arise—issues on generational or cultural differences, communication styles, demanding schedules, and unarticulated expectations.
As part of the PhD Completion Project at Illinois, the Graduate College has offered its “Practical Mentoring of Graduate Students” workshop to members of the graduate faculty since 2006. The purpose of this annual workshop is to bring faculty together from across to campus to learn and share best practices for mentoring at Illinois. “There are few systematic resources to help faculty develop their mentoring skills—instead, faculty usually learn how to mentor principally by being mentees and through practice and experience. This workshop addresses that gap, giving faculty a day to focus on their mentoring skills and to learn from each other by sharing experiences and strategies,” says Rebecca Bryant, Assistant Dean in the Graduate College.
This year’s workshop theme, “Challenging Assumptions: Building a Supportive and Inclusive Environment”, will examine the differing perspectives of faculty and graduate students and how challenges can develop because of unintended—and sometimes unrecognized—assumptions. The communication styles and behavior of both mentors and mentees are based on their own experiences and assumptions about advising relationships, but for many students (and some advisers) this is a new kind of relationship. Graduate students may come from different cultures or from different types of institutions than their mentors, which can unintentionally lead to misunderstandings.
During the workshop, participants will explore strategies for identifying and addressing common miscommunications and will hear from recent graduates on how the mentoring they received shaped their graduate careers. The workshop is free to all Urbana Campus faculty. Spaces are limited and registration is required. For more information—or to register—please visit the Web at www.grad.illinois.edu/events/mentoring/2010.