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Happy National Mentoring Month!


Posted: Jan 31 2023 by

Patricia Marsteller
Emory University
Patricia Marsteller, Emory University

Change Topics (Working Groups): Change Leaders, Equity and Inclusion
Target Audience: College/University Staff, Non-tenure Track Faculty, Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty, Institution Administration, Graduate Students, Post-doctoral Fellows
Program Components: Professional Development:Advising and Mentoring, Diversity/Inclusion, Supporting Students:Mentoring Program

Since Odysseus left Mentor in charge of his family, estates, and his son, the art and science of mentoring has been critical to guiding career and educational development. Like Mentor, I aim to be a wise and trusted counselor, guide, guardian, and teacher or as the title of a widely read book indicates, an Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend (National Academies of Sciences, 1997). I have learned that mentoring is an alliance between people and that both mentors and mentees benefit from agreements about how the relationship will evolve and how to include social support, career development, and growth. With faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates, mentoring often involves getting to know the whole person, their aims and aspirations, and their qualms about the future. Connecting students to the right resources or empowering them to bring up difficult questions with their faculty or research mentors requires that you be open, listen carefully, and know them as persons. More

Academic Advising: Leverage Point for Systemic Change Initiatives?


Posted: Nov 29 2017 by
Sean Bridgen
Kansas State University
Sean Bridgen, Pennsylvania State University-New Kensington
Change Topics (Working Groups): Policy
Target Audience: College/University Staff, Non-tenure Track Faculty, Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty, Institution Administration
Program Components: Professional Development:Advising and Mentoring, Supporting Students:Academic Support, Professional Preparation

I am beginning my sixteenth year as an academic adviser; I have worked at large research universities, a small state college, and a small private college. My experiences and scholarly work have taught me that the day-to-day decisions academic advisers make can have a significant impact on how the university functions. Academic advising is structurally designed to include one on one conversations with students regarding the direction of their education, what their current challenges are, what they have learned, and what they want to learn in the future. As a result of this structure, advisers are uniquely positioned to have in-depth conversations about the university's mission, and why the curriculum is structured the way it is; this unique position can also allow advisers to function as a leverage point for change initiatives. More

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