Mentoring Toolkit

Mentorship is an essential component of science. Principal investigators will likely train and mentor individuals at various stages of scientific development: undergraduates, lab technicians, research assistants, graduate students, postdocs, and career research scientists. While the focus of training is to support the advisees in their formal responsibilities to progress towards academic and scientific goals, the focus of mentorship is the personal and professional growth of an advisee. Mentors share knowledge, experience, networks, and resources to guide, sponsor, and advise students in their development.

Successful mentoring is essential for the career satisfaction, research productivity, and personal development of a mentee. It forms the fabric of our scientific community. The skills and knowledge to effectively mentor must be continuously practiced and refined. Thus, the department pairs all tenure-track faculty in PBS with senior mentors both inside and outside of the department to guide in their development.

HOW THEY WORK

What is a mentoring team?

All graduate students in PBS have a mentoring team. The role of this mentoring team is to provide an early-career graduate student with guidance and support as they get off the ground in graduate school (Years 1-2). This Mentoring Team is comprised of the student's PI, one secondary faculty member in the PBS graduate program, and one peer (a senior graduate student, called your "senior peer"). Although formal meetings aren't required after a student's second year, the secondary faculty mentor and senior peer can still serve as mentoring resources for a student. In later years students also have committees focused on their research (e.g. specialist and dissertation committees) who would also serve as mentors.

When do mentoring teams meet?

By December 15 of their first year in the program, all mentees in PBS should have an orientation meeting with their PI as well as an initial introductory meeting with the other members of their mentoring team (their secondary faculty mentor and their senior peer, together). Secondary faculty mentors should reach out to their mentee and the senior peer to schedule this introductory meeting during fall term. After that, mentees should schedule an annual individual meeting with their secondary faculty mentor and their senior peer to discuss personal development, career goals, and any hurdles each year (Years 1 and 2). These meetings can occur at any point throughout the year. This flowchart illustrates the standard mentoring meetings and timeline.

What is the structure of mentoring meetings?

Below, you will find forms created to guide the conversations in each of these meetings. Each form also has a signature page to document the meeting.  Graduate students are responsible for submitting each form to the PBS Department Administrator after the meeting takes place.

Year 1:

• Form 1 (pdf) – Student and Advisor Orientation Meeting - Due December 15
  • Form 1 (word doc)
• Form 2 (pdf) – Student and Mentoring Team Introductory Meeting - Due December 15
  • Form 2 (word doc)

Years 1 and 2:

• Form 3 (pdf)
   - Annual Mentoring Review Meetings – Due no later than April 30 with graduate student annual report
  • Form 3 (word doc)

• Mentors:
  • A book written by The Howard Hughes Medical Institute specifically for postdocs and new faculty:  Making the Right Moves: A practical guide to scientific management and mentoring for postdocs and new faculty (Burroughs Wellcome Fund and Howard Hughes Medical Institute).
  • Effective mentoring in STEMM: Effective Mentoring in STEMM: Practice, Research, and Future Directions (National Academy of Sciences, 2017, workshop proceedings).
  • Detailed resources for mentoring and cultivating a positive lab environment from the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (Requires a free account; Clinical and Behavioral Sciences resources are particularly well-matched to many labs in PBS).
  • Nature's guide for good mentorship: Nature's guide for mentors (Lee et al., 2007, Nature).
  • For new mentors. Entering Mentoring: A seminar to train a new generation of scientists. (The Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching; 2005). 
  • Mentoring advice for mentees and mentors in science: Mentoring Advice (Pain, 2012, Science).
  • Science writers share their perspectives on mentoring and research integrity. Spotlight on Mentoring (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Research Integrity, 2012)
  • Guide to mentoring graduate students. How to mentor graduate students: a guide for faculty (University of Michigan Rackam Graduate School, 2018)
• Postdocs:
  • Helping postdocs find their next position: Mentoring: On the right path. (Allison McCook, 2011, Nature)
  • Selecting a good postdoctoral mentor: Ten Simple Rules for Selecting a Postdoctoral Position (Bourne et al., 2006, PLOS Computational Biology)
  • Selecting a good postdoctoral lab: Advice on Choosing a Successful Post-doctoral Position (ASCB Newsletter, 2005) 
• Mentees:
  • The "Quick Start for Great Mentoring" from the Council of Graduate Schools (Lunsford and Baker, 2016)
  • For students seeking mentors: How to get the mentorship you want (University of Michigan Rackham graduate school, 2018).
  • Spotting a good mentor: Mind Matters: Getting Yourself Mentored (Levine, 2006, Science)
  • Mentoring advice for mentees and mentors in science: Mentoring Advice (Pain, 2012, Science).
  • A brief primer on the PhD supervision relationship (Madan, 2021, European Journal of Neuroscience).