How to recruit mentors? How do you honor their time & energy?
Recruitment and Selection of Mentors
Recruitment and Selection of Mentors
Finding thoughtful and intentional mentors for your program is one of the most important keys to student success. For individual students, the quality of mentorship can make a so-so program a great experience, or it can make a great program a complete failure. It’s important to recognize that mentorship is often an “extra” task that does not count toward tenure or graduate program requirements. It can be a big ask, especially for the early career folks who often volunteer.
How we did it:
Our program was polar science focused, which limited the number of mentors available due to specialty. In addition to an email about the program sent to faculty and graduate students, we reached out to individuals and offered an information session.
Each mentor was a unique situation with unique attributes and challenges. Faculty, post-docs, graduate students and professional faculty applied to serve as mentors in the program. Every mentor who applied was selected. Most of our mentors were consistently present, student-focused and committed to the program, though a few drifted away due to competing obligations. Since most of our mentors were field-going polar scientists, many of them had extensive field work obligations that impacted their ability to support their students for large chunks of time.
ARC-Learn mentors were recognized for their contributions by receiving the status of “Inclusive Mentorship Fellow” which they could include in their list of accomplishments on their CV. They were also provided with training and support on inclusive mentorship techniques and practices.
Considerations for your program:
While some mentors may be open and excited to participate in a new approach to mentoring, other mentors may have a difficult time embracing a new model, based on a lifetime of experience in the traditional model. Consider asking a targeted question to determine their openness to practicing mentorship in a different way, and also consider not accepting all willing mentors.
Prior to starting the program, make sure that all mentors are familiar with the time requirements of the program, as well as the inclusive mentorship philosophy you are working with. Allow opportunities for mentors to withdraw from the program if they are not fully committed.
Collect field research plans from your mentors so you can anticipate their absence. If you expect a mentor to be gone for long periods, intentionally pair them with a mentor who is more stationary or find a back-up mentor during this time period.
Inclusive mentoring for a non-traditional undergraduate research opportunity (especially over a long duration program) is very time and energy intensive for mentors. Mentors have challenges in their lives, just like students do, so it’s very important to be flexible in supporting their participation as well. Consider funding or a stipend for graduate student mentors, or other form of recognition or compensation that can be recognized on their CV. In the case of faculty mentors (including post-docs), consider providing specific support from department chairs and college deans. This could include formalizing agreements to count their involvement in the program towards the teaching and advising duties in mentors’ position descriptions and/or offering release from other teaching duties for the duration of the program.
Graduate student and postdoc mentors serve as near-peer mentors who can relate to the experiences of undergraduates, have more recent experiences in the mentee role themselves and have a fresh perspective on the science. Students found these mentors to be especially approachable, involved and available.
Work with the leadership in your unit when designing and implementing the program. Involving leadership early and often creates buy-in, which is essential for supporting potential mentors to join the program. Mentor participation in the program should be explicitly included in faculty reviews by department chairs and college deans.