Developing  a  Graduate  Student  Peer  Mentorship  Program  

Ma7hew  S.  Savocaa,b,*  aUniversity  of  California,  Davis,  Department  of  Neurobiology,  Physiology  &  Behavior,  Davis,  CA    bGraduate  Group  in  

Ecology,  Davis,  CA    *email:  mssavoca@ucdavis.edu    

Overview  •  Graduate  school  can  be  stressful  and  

overwhelming.  A  recent  study1  found  37%  of  Master’s  students  and  47%  of  PhD  students  meet  the  basic  criteria  for  depression  and  anxiety  and  this  incidence  has  risen  in  the  past  decade1,2.  

•  A  strong  mentorship  network  has  been  linked  to  decreased  anxiety  and  depression  as  well  as  increased  student  performance,  retenGon,  and  well-­‐being1,2,3.    

•  One  form  of  mentorship  that  oJen  overlooked  is  peer  or  near-­‐peer  mentoring  (Figure  1).  

   

•  I  focused  on  my  program,  the  Graduate  Group  in  Ecology  (GGE).  

•  My  project’s  goal  was  to  formalize  a  peer  mentorship  structure  within  the  GGE  and  help  train  graduate  students  in  basic  mentorship  skills  that  will  be  useful  in  graduate  school  and  beyond.        

Program  details  •  Peer  mentors  engaged  in  year-­‐long  mentorship  training  facilitated  by  group  

discussions  once  per  month  and  professionally-­‐led  workshops  once  per  quarter.  

•  Group  discussions  on  topics  such  as:  •  Stress  management  strategies  in  graduate  school  •  Imposter  syndrome  •  Mental  health  issues  and  resources    

The  workshops:  1.   Enhancing  listening  skills  from  an  ecological  perspecEve    

Presenter:  Dr.  Mónica  Torreiro-­‐Casal,  Psychology  Postdoctoral  Intern,  Student  Health  and  Counseling  Services      

   2.   Mentoring  360:  Developing  full  circles  of  mentoring  relaEonships  

Presenter:  Dr.  Steve  Lee,  Graduate  Diversity  Officer,  Office  of  Graduate  Studies  

 3.   Recognizing  and  responding  to  distressed  and  distressing  students    

Presenter:  Dr.  Bai-­‐Yin  Chen,  Staff  Psychologist,  Student  Health  and  Counseling  Services    

A^endees  of  the  discussions  and  workshops  will  receive  a  cerGficate  of  compleGon  from  Graduate  Studies.    

The  way  forward  •  Integrated  peer  mentoring  into  GGE  recruitment  this  

year  in  hopes  to  enhance  recruitment  (see  Gmeline  below).  

•  Each  peer  mentor  has  agreed  to  mentor  an  incoming  GGE  student  the  following  year  as  part  of  the  program.  

•  Later  this  summer,  I  will  connect  incoming  students  to  prospecGve  peer  mentors  who  have  completed  the  peer  mentorship  program  (see  Gmeline  below).      

•  I  am  currently  in  talks  with  several  GGE  students  who  are  interested  in  taking  over  this  program  aJer  I  graduate  next  year.  

 

References  1Hyun,  J.,  Quinn,  B.,  Madon,  T.,  &  LusGg,  S.  2006.  Graduate  Student  Mental  Health:        Needs  Assessment  and  UGlizaGon  of  4  Counseling  Services.  Journal  of  College  Student  Development,  47(3),  247-­‐266.    2The  Graduate  Assembly.  2015.  Graduate  Student  Happiness  &  Well-­‐Being  Report  2014.  University  of  California,  Berkeley  <h^p://ga.berkeley.edu/wp-­‐content/uploads/2015/04/wellbeingreport_2014.pdf>    3Nerad,  M.  &  Miller,  D.S..  1996.  Increasing  Student  RetenGon  in  Graduate  and  Professional  Programs.  New  DirecGons  for  InsGtuGonal  Research.  92:  61-­‐76    

Figure  1:  Spectrum  of  mentorship,  termed  mentoring  360.  My  program  focused  on  peer  and  near-­‐pear  mentoring,  as  indicated  by  the  red  box.  Figure  from  Steve  Lee’s  Mentoring  360  workshop.  

Timeline  of  peer  mentorship  program:    Mentor  training  ConnecEng  mentors  with  prospecEve  students  ConnecEng  mentors  with  incoming  students  

Sept.  2015  

Feb.  2016  

June  2016  

Sept.  2016  

Acknowledgments  Special  thanks  to  the  workshop  presenters  and  cohort  of  peer  mentors  who  volunteered  their  Gme  for  this  project.  I  also  want  to  thank  the  2015-­‐16  group  of  PFTF  fellows  as  well  as  Teresa  Dillinger  and  JP  Delplanque  for  their  support  and  feedback  on  the  project.  

ParGcipants  in  Dr.  Torreiro-­‐Casal’s  workshop  on  December  4th  2015  

Professors for the Future, 2015-2016

PFTF Fellow: Matthew Savoca Program: Ecology Major Professor: Gabrielle Nevitt

Project Title: "Developing a Graduate Student Peer Mentorship Program."

Project Summary: Academics often cite graduate school as the best time in their careers. And yet, despite all the wonderful things graduate school has to offer, there will also be stressful, overwhelming, and unnerving moments. The causes are innumerable and unique to each person, but have no doubt, every graduate student will encounter them; the question is, how to get though it?

For me, having a great support system of family and friends has been critical; however, an official peer support structure for graduate students at UC Davis is lacking. For this reason, as my Professors for the Future service project, I initiated a graduate student peer mentorship program, using the Graduate Group in Ecology (GGE) as a pilot group. Over the year, I organized three workshops and monthly discussion-based meetings where a collection of highly motivated GGE students, interested in enhancing their mentoring skills, have been preparing to become peer mentors for students entering the graduate program next year.

Thus far, I have connected peer mentors with prospective student mentees so the incoming cohort of GGE students will be prepared to hit the ground running when they arrive in Davis for the first time later this fall. By the end of the year, I will have also created a peer-mentorship training toolkit that other graduate programs can adopt and use to develop their own peer mentorship systems. My hope is that this program will be continued after I graduate and will augment and improve the recruitment and retention of early-stage graduate students in the GGE and UC Davis as a whole.

University of California, Davis