As we have articulated, one of the challenges of the traditional mentoring model resides in the being-all-things to another set of assumptions built into it. The traditional mentor is understood as a single person who will be there without fail…

In our previous post, we, the members of the Infant Development Lab, shared advice for students on how to prepare to present research posters. In Part 2 of this series, we will now share several ways faculty mentors can support…

Given that mentoring relationships are learner-centered, mentees should have significant agency in developing their mentoring constellations. In this section, we explore strategies and resources mentees can use to identify and develop meaningful and mentoring relationships.   Mentoring relationships “promote academic, social,…

“No idea is fully formed until it can be communicated.”   The Boyer Commission 1998 As we near the end of the academic year, many undergraduate research students and their mentors are planning to present research posters showcasing their accomplishments. In…

In Mentoring Matters, we introduce a definition of mentoring relationships and explore the mentoring constellation model in higher education. Here we consider the important question, how do mentoring constellations operate in practice? From our comprehensive analyses of multiple data sources,…

In our 2020 institutional survey on mentoring, fourth-year students identified on-campus student employment as the fifth most common experience that prepared them to connect with potential mentors. Supervisors of student employees offer a dynamic example of meaningful relationships that can…

This semester, we have found ourselves thinking about the importance of research spaces for undergraduate research mentoring and research productivity. Dr. Thurman recently returned from a post-promotion sabbatical and rebuilt the infrastructure for her lab. Her psychology research program centers…

Recently I had the opportunity to think about mentoring in the context of a semester study abroad program with undergraduate research (UR) mentors working with DIS, Study Abroad in Scandinavia. Before talking with the mentors, I had asked their students…

Just like any other relationship, differences in opinions, values, and desires can lead to problems in mentoring as the relationship advances. Problems in mentoring might lead to superficial interactions, below-average engagement, unmet expectations, and difficulty relating to one another (Eby…

What kind of development and/or support do your mentors provide? It was necessary at some point to figure out how the knowledge I was obtaining at university could be applied. Therefore … I worked at a biotech company where I…