What is mentoring?
A mentoring relationship is a close, individualized relationship that develops over time between a student and a faculty member (or others) that includes both caring and guidance. Mentoring roles include the following:
- Advisers: people with career experience willing to share their knowledge
- Supporters: people who give emotional and moral encouragement
- Tutors: people who give specific feedback on one’s performance
- Masters: in the sense of employers to whom one is apprenticed
- Sponsors: sources of information about, and aid in obtaining opportunities
- Models of identity: the kind of person one should be
Mentoring involves a constellation of activities that goes beyond advising or guiding a student through a project. It also involves a variety of ways for assisting and supporting students through their programs and beyond. Certainly, you should not try to fulfill all the roles described for every student you mentor. In fact, part of your responsibility as a mentor is to help students cultivate multiple mentoring relationships inside and outside the university.
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