Dear Faculty Colleagues and Rackham Ph.D. Students:
Rackham and its Mentoring Committee, MORE, are sponsoring a Mentoring Plan Workshop. A mentoring plan is a two-way agreement about needs and expectations written by a faculty research mentor and a graduate student mentee. It is an excellent way to establish and support mentor-mentee relationships as the student progresses toward degree completion. The workshop will be held on Friday November 7th, 10:30-12:30 in the Rackham Assembly Hall.
The goal of the Mentoring Plan Workshop is to enhance the mentoring relationship between the student and research faculty mentor/advisor (i.e., faculty mentor). The workshop begins from the understanding that the process of working together across different levels of academic experience, as well as differences in personal backgrounds, work styles, and life experiences, is often challenging. Although some aspects of their work together may go very smoothly and easily, there may be other aspects that are uncomfortable or awkward, and could be improved. Students and faculty will have an opportunity, in the context of this workshop, to develop a Mentoring Plan for the successful completion of their graduate program.
Prior to the workshop both faculty and student participants will be asked to complete a brief pre-survey on mentoring. During the workshop, each faculty mentor-student team will create a plan that promotes the student’s academic and professional success – the Mentoring Plan. After the workshop, both may begin implementing the plan and will be sent a post-survey shortly after the workshop and will be sent a second follow-up survey 6 months following the workshop. Information about the pre- and post-workshop surveys will be sent to participants after registration.
Because this program is aimed at the faculty mentor-student working relationship, mentors and students should attend the workshop together. (If a faculty mentor has previously attended, he/she may opt to attend only the mentor-student team meeting time to develop the Mentoring Plan.) Registration is required of both the student and faculty mentor, and we are particularly interested in offering this opportunity to student-faculty pairs at the beginning of their mentoring relationship. We are encouraging Rackham students who could benefit from this workshop to participate with their faculty mentors.
Both faculty mentor and student must register here:
Workshop Schedule for November 7, 2014 in Rackham Assembly Hall
10:30 am - 11:00 am, Welcome & Introduction
11:00 am – 11:45 am, Small Group Breakout Sessions: (Separate for Mentors and Students)
11:45 am – 12:00 pm, Reassemble for discussion of mentoring plans.
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm, Time for one-on-one work on mentoring plans. (Lunch is available.)
