Finding and Being a Mentor in Grad School

Katharine B. Gamble, Ph.D.ASE, UT-AustinKatharine.Gamble@swe.org

Stephanie GillespiePhD Student, ECE, Georgia-Techsgillespie6@gatech.edu

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Mentoring

Our experiences

Importance of mentors

Mentor-mentee relationships

Tips for finding a mentor

Tips for being a mentor

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The Graduate Student Community will provide graduate students the resources they need to excel and graduate with their advanced degrees in order to successfully transition into their desired career by:• Developing unique webinars, and

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Mission | What the Graduate Community Offers

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Our Mentoring Experience

Mentor:• Graduates Linked with Undergraduates

in Engineering (GLUE)• Texas Spacecraft Lab• Grad SWE (at UT-Austin, regional, and

national)

Mentee:• Internships• Informal relationship with professors,

advisors, etc.• Conference contacts

Katharine Stephanie

Mentor:• Opportunity Research Scholars• Vertically Integrated Project Team• Grad SWE (at GT)• Region D Conference Planning

Committee

Mentee:• Internships• Informal relationship with professors,

advisors, etc.• Conference contacts

Why do you think it’s important to have a mentor?

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The Importance of Mentoring

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The Importance of Mentoring (2)

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The Importance of Mentoring (3)

“Mentoring can facilitate positive socialization among women to STEM fields by encouraging interaction with successful individuals and by providing [career] support... Coupled with other programmatic initiatives, mentoring relationships are a key element in encouraging retention and success of women in STEM fields.” 1

"It was hard without having female mentors in the field. It would have helped to have someone to talk with about issues. Male mentors are helpful with career advice ...but it does not feel like they truly understand the burdens that women face...in such a male-dominated field as engineering.” 2

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The Importance of Mentoring (4)

Women with sponsors are more likely to ask for stretch assignments and pay raises3

Women who are mentored and sponsored report having more career success, greater job satisfaction and more career commitment4

Sponsors are different from mentors5

• Sponsor- invested in your success and willing to offer guidance and critical feedback because they believe in them, with more at stake for both partners

• Mentor- offer advice and support, and expect very little in return

What does a mentor do for you?

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Mentors should…• Help you solidify your career goals• Guide you through coursework options• Advocate for you• Encourage you to find internships, research opportunities• Assist you with “soft skills” (time management, adjusting to university,

finding your place, etc.)• Connect you with internships, lab openings, etc.

Undergrads

• Help you find your “fit”• Assist you in the transition to graduate school• Support you through life changes• Encourage you to integrate work and life• Help you solidify your career goals• Share knowledge about their experiences• Provide you with general knowledge about your career path• Help you find funding• Connect you with professionals in your field

Grads• Support you through life changes• Provide constructive and support feedback• Demystify departmental, college and university culture• Advocate for you• Provide information about promotion and tenure processes• Help foster important connections and visibility• Assist with grant writing, etc.

Faculty

What types of mentor-mentee relationships are there?

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Types of Mentor Relationships

Faculty-Student

Faculty-Faculty

Student-Student

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Student to Student Mentoring

Mentoring relationships can develop through• Formal peer advising programs• Personal connections• Classes, homework groups, teaching assistantships

The primary goal is to• Help students navigate college life and courses• Enable students to achieve their educational goals• Share common experiences between students to improve social

wellness and mental health

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Student to Student Mentoring (2)

How to• Look for existing programs through your department or college and

use the resources of your department/college/school (email lists and facilities)

• Connect students with similar and dissimilar experiences (both older and younger)

• Strive to develop a one-on-one relationship through informal communication and personal meetings

• Talk about difficulties faced in making decisions, tackling certain situations, etc.

• Focus on achieving educational goals

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Student to Student Mentoring (3)

Benefits• Helps new students adapt to the new learning environment more

quickly• Provides a good combination of support and encouragement in an

informal setting• Guides students to expand their learning and participation in

education and developmental opportunities• Goes well with faculty advising• Often happens without knowing it’s going on!

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Faculty to Student Mentoring

Mentoring relationships can develop through• Department or college mixers• Classes, projects and labs• Formal mentoring programs

The primary goal is to• Create a focused academic community for women • Improve retention in engineering programs• Give engineering women additional departmental resources beyond

their professors and advisers

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Faculty to Student Mentoring (2)

How to• Remember: Everyone is busy!• Consider the difference between networking and match making• Take advantage of your department/university/school and its

resources (scheduling tools, facilities, email lists, funds)• Assess your goal to determine your structure• Have a purpose (outreach, recruitment, games and fitness,

community service)• Have a mutual goal for faculty and students• Reshape your approach as your community grows and matures

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Faculty to Student Mentoring (3)

Benefits• Provides undergraduate and graduate students with strong faculty

role models• Eases academic transitions• Enables effective academic advising• Facilitates discussion of aligning academic and professional career

goals• Mentoring for graduate students is “near-peer”

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Faculty to Faculty Mentoring

Mentoring relationships can develop through• Formal and informal programs• Connections outside the department or university

The primary goal is to• Help female faculty achieve promotion and tenure• Retain female engineering faculty• Improve teaching and enhance career satisfaction

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Faculty to Faculty Mentoring (2)

How to• Use existing programs in your department/college/university• Use the resources of your department or college to establish

connections with faculty outside your department (funds for travel, etc.)

• Time is precious: use your mentor only for questions you cannot find the answer to yourself

• Seek multiple mentors to address different needs• Be proactive to interact with your mentor

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Faculty to Faculty Mentoring (3)

Benefits• Young faculty receive direction for their activities that benefit their

careers while senior faculty receive enhanced career satisfaction• Collaborative efforts are improved within departments and to other

units internal and external to the university• Mentor and protégé receive positive benefits from engaging in

mentoring activities during faculty reviews

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Mentoring in School

Useful for understanding the “way-out”, giving back, and building your network

Look for• Formal programs through your department or SWE section• Chances to meet people through research programs or

specialized academies

Remember to consider social vs. professional comments and your boundaries

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Mentoring in Academia

Useful for understanding the tenure process and department culture or expectations

Often there are formal programs for junior faculty, or you can seek out those at your institution or others with your desired experiences

Remember that it is a small network and word travels. Some questions will be better suited for some mentors than others

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Mentoring in Industry

Useful for understanding a specific company, job position, or navigating the workplace

Can form from:• Alumni partnerships and programs • Internship/co-ops• Other tech-association social events

You may with to avoid using specific names when criticizing or addressing something troublesome

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Mentoring in SWE

Useful for professional development and leadership growth

Local section-, region-, and society-level mentors• Look to see what exists• If it doesn’t exist, are you willing to start it? • Who will you meet at We15?

Understand what you want to get out of the relationship before you start

Ok, so how do you go about finding a mentor?

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Strategies for Finding a Mentor

Take a critical self-appraisal• What are my academic and professional objectives? • What type of training do I desire? • What are my strengths? What skills do I need to develop? • What engages me?

Identify potential mentors• Formal and informal programs• Social activities and mixers

Avoid limiting your options• Don’t expect one mentor to meet all your needs. Be creative!

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Tips for Finding a Mentor

No one mentoring system meets all needsNo one mentor meets all needsMentoring is easiest in a culture of trust and collaborationRemember time is valuableBuild mentoring relationships through personal connections and shared experiencesMany resources exist for mentoring…find them and use them!

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Resources for Finding a MentorTo help you find a mentor, or at least start the search, check out the following resources:http://mentornet.net/ -- You can have an industry, gov't or academic mentor. These are for undergrads, grad students (MS or PhD), post docs and early faculty (not yet tenured). http://www.awis.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=37 -- This is a mentoring handbook written by the Association of Women in Science (AWIS). AWIS also offers mentoring programs usually at the local chapter level that are geared toward PhD level women grad students in STEM. They also have had some great webinars about how to find mentors and what type of mentors you need.http://www.fabfems.org/ -- This website is part of the Million Women Mentors effort out of the White House to engage mentors in STEM. This site also has mentoring resources at http://www.fabfems.org/resources. For all who sign up, they can tell their STEM story and indicate how they want to be a mentor (just listed online so people can read about them, open to contacts via email if kids have questions, etc.). You can also find mentors and role models here!https://www.millionwomenmentors.org/#homeIf people want to be a role model or mentor, Techbridge also has great resources at http://techbridgegirls.org/index.php?id=29.The ADVANCE program also has a compilation of mentoring resources that may be useful now or as graduates head into faculty positions: http://www.portal.advance.vt.edu/index.php/tags/Mentoring.

Have you participated in any formal/informal mentor programs?

What did you think of these programs?

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Structured vs Unstructured Programs

Structured programs take the pressure off junior women from having to ask the difficult “are you my mentor?” question 6

Some faculty may feel more secure asking for help when a senior faculty member has invited them to ask 7

StructuredUnstructured

Nobody…can advance without good informal networks because of the fact that if people don’t like you, there are a hundred thousand ways they can screw you. 8

Informal mentoring…consists of two people who are compatible and get together to share ideas and learn from each other. 9

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Tips for Being a Mentor

Understand what the mentee wants out of the relationship and focus on that aspect

Reach out if you haven’t heard from your mentee in an agreed upon period of time

Give both positive and negative feedback- their goal is to grow, but they also need positive reinforcement

Consider referring them to other resources when they are out of your area of expertise

Remember that you can be getting something out of the relationship as well

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Tips for Being a Mentor

Understand what the mentee wants out of the relationship and focus on that aspect

Reach out if you haven’t heard from your mentee in an agreed upon period of time

Give both positive and negative feedback- their goal is to grow, but they also need positive reinforcement

Consider referring them to other resources when they are out of your area of expertise

Remember that you can be getting something out of the relationship as well

Contact us

Katharine B. Gamble, Ph.D.ASE, UT-AustinKatharine.Gamble@swe.org

Stephanie GillespiePhD Student, ECE, Georgia-Techsgillespie6@gatech.edu

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SWE Graduate Student WE15 EventsHosted by Grad Community:Thursday SessionsGraduate School Members Meeting –

10:15-11:30am, MCC 110Finding and Being a Mentor in Grad School –

10:15-11:45am, MCC 107B

Friday SessionsGraduate Rapid Fire Session 1 –

10:00-11:15am, MCC 107AUS Graduate School Experience for International Students –

4-5pm, MCC 202Graduate Student Meet & Greet –

5:30-6:30pm, MCC 110

Saturday SessionsGraduate Rapid Fire Session 2 –

10:00-11:15am, MCC 105BEngineering Careers in Gov’t & Policy –

1:30-2:30pm, MCC 202Women in Academia Overview & Networking (not hosted by Grad Community)

2-4pm, Renaissance, Ryman

Watch our Social Media to join us for lunch, coffee, and sitting together at Celebrate

SWE!

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SWE_grad

• Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SWEGrad

• Blog: https://swegrad.wordpress.com/

• Email list serve – joining instructions on the blog!

• LinkedIn: Coming Soon!

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Let’s Practice: Elevator Pitch to Approach a MentorAre you ready to ask someone you meet at We15 to be

your mentor?

Let’s practice. Don’t forget your: • Name• Position/School/SWE affiliation• What are your aspirations• What do you hope to get from this contact as your

specific mentor?• How often would you like to meet and through which

type of setting (email, in person, over lunch, etc.)