strategies to continue to lift as you climb march 5, 2015 jennifer r. cohen, ph.d....
TRANSCRIPT
Strategies To Continue To Lift As You Climb
March 5, 2015
Jennifer R. Cohen, Ph.D.
[email protected]@jreneecohen
My goals
Start a dialogue about student AND faculty/staff needs with regards to mentorship
Provide a supportive environment to facilitate discussions about How your experiences have influenced your mentor
philosophy Challenges you face as both mentor & mentee
Develop strategies to help mentors mentor
Agenda
Share highlights from the graduate student workshop In Search of Building Highly Effective Professional Relationships
Open discussion about the unique challenges faculty/staff mentors face at Purdue
Small group discussion about personal mentoring experiences*
Discuss benefits, issues and strategies for mentoring women and minority graduate students
Share Resources to help strengthen cross-cultural mentoring
Brainstorm: How do we bring this content to faculty who are not in the room?
Summary of student workshop
Topic: Building highly effective professional relationships, focusing on developing mentor relationships in an academic setting
Content: Defined mentorship, differences between functional & dysfunctional mentoring, consequences, built consensus on the importance of mentoring relationships, discussed the mutual benefits that both mentor and mentee receive, tools for being proactive mentees
Key Discussions: Pseudo-Mentors How to recognize when you are not being mentored Strategies for taking a proactive approach to creating a BOD
Feedback: What do you wish faculty realized about mentoring?The importance of cross-cultural, -racial and -gender mentorship
Graduate student feedback: What do you wish faculty realized about mentoring?
Open discussion about challenges that you face while mentoring students
Drawing on the knowledge and experience in the room How did you learn to mentor students?
What unique challenges do faculty and staff mentors face?
Are there any barriers that faculty and staff encounter from the institution?
Reflecting on personal experiences
In a small group, answer these 3 questions: When did a mentor make a difference for you?
How have your experiences as a mentee influenced your mentoring style?
Describe your experience with cross-cultural mentoring Examples: cross-gender, cross-racial Any benefits from this type of relationship?
Mentor benefits expand when cross-cultural mentoring is provided
Women who have a mentor can advance more quickly, and to higher levels, than those who are not supported
Potential benefits for mentors Tangible: assistance with projects, increased power,
networking as mentees advance, __ Personal rewards: validation, pleasure mentee
achievements, and sense of competence, __ Extra benefits:
Gaining cross-cultural exposure and competence Making a human capital investment that promotes
equity and social justice in your discipline
One strategy for enhancing capacity with cross-cultural mentorship
Faculty strategies
Seek Development
Diversity Training & Multicultural Competences
Create developmental networks
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0261-0159.htm
Resources
Society for Diversity Inspiring Leadership with Diversity, Inclusion & Cultural Competence https://societyfordiversity.wordpress.com
NCORE National Conference for Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education https://www.ncore.ou.edu
Federal US Department of Education My Brother’s Keeper http://www.serve.gov/?q=site-page/mentoring
Cultural-specific and gender-specific: journals, blogs, listservs, podcasts http://www.caes.uga.edu/unit/diversity/documents/
mentoringminoritystudents.pdf
Resources
The Chronicle of Higher Education No. 1 source of news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty
members and administrators http://chronicle.com/section/Home/5
TED Talks (videos) Make great ideas accessible and spark conversations https://www.ted.com/talks
TEDx Talks Ideas from communities around the globe https://www.youtube.com/user/TEDxTalks
Professional Organizations
Others?
How do we bring this content to faculty who are not in the room?
Brainstorm: How can we avoid “preaching to the choir?”
What are some of the best practices around mentoring culture? Any examples that could work at Purdue?
How can leadership encourage/incorporate the professional development of mentoring skill sets?
Index cards
1. How can the institution better support faculty/staff to become better mentors?
2. What do you wish students realized about mentorship?
Graduate student feedback: What do you wish faculty realized about mentoring?
“Faculty need to realize 1) one-size does not fit all when mentoring, 2) encourage goal-making and 3) use unintimidating communication”
Faculty should “Be clear about what you offer. If you don’t want to mentor the whole student and only want to provide academic training, be honest and offer opportunities to find mentors elsewhere.”
“Faculty who are apart of the Faculty Senate should advocate greater oversight of mentoring. Good mentoring should be a tenure requirement.”
“Pseudomentorship is not a benign activity.”
“It takes time and effort to develop. PhD students really need good mentors not just advisors”
Students and faculty should write down mutual expectations