Mentor Your Graduate & Professional Students – On-Demand Training

Strategies for Engagement & Success Within the Current Landscape & Beyond

A positive relationship with a graduate or professional student benefits both individuals — the student and the faculty member. In a good mentoring relationship, productivity, satisfaction and reward can be one of the greatest gifts a faculty member experiences in his or her career. But when the relationship becomes strained, it can be one of the most stressful aspects of a faculty member’s daily responsibilities. 

Our expert presenter discusses ethics, collegiality, learning and development pathways, and power dynamics and how these can expressly improve or derail a mentoring relationship. He also addresses the rapidly changing landscape of opportunities due to COVID-19 and what that means for mentoring graduate and professional students right now.

You’ll walk away with resources and strategies for explicitly addressing power dynamics in mentor-protege relationships; tools to mentor for engagement, satisfaction and success; and ways to support students during this time of increased stress. Be able to set clear parameters and expectations so that you and your students experience the success and reward that comes from positive mentoring relationships.

Topics Covered

Get actionable takeaways so you can:

• Take care to support graduate and professional students' mental well-being during times of increased stress — acknowledge the uncertain, unknown and indeterminant issues facing higher education and professional career paths right now so you can help your students make smart decisions.
• Explicitly address power dynamics at play in the relationships — protect yourself, your institution and your students.
• Identify ways to foster ongoing two-way feedback about your mentoring relationship — emphasize listening as an act of mentoring.
• Set clear boundaries and expectations to ensure that all involved have a clear understanding of the nature of the relationship and expectations for it — help ensure that you and your proteges experience the success and reward that comes from positive mentorship experiences.
• Socialize students into their field — help them build key knowledge and skills for professional development, including involvement in professional associations and an understanding of intellectual property concerns.

Presenter

George S. McClellan, co-author of Esports in Higher Education: Fostering Successful Student-Athletes and Successful Programs (Stylus, May 2020), is currently an Associate Professor of Higher Education at the University of Mississippi.  

Click here for full bio.