Mentor Resources
Resources for Mentors
Graduate faculty are critical players in the development of their graduate students by providing mentorship or structured professional development opportunities. This quick start guide lays outs important tenets of quality mentorship.
This tool, which was adapted from resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, can promote self-reflection about mentoring strengths or areas needing further development.
External Mentoring Resources to engage and support mentorship that were produced by organizations external to UCCS are included here:
- The Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER) is housed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
- UCCS is an institutional member of the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD). If you're not a member, please consider joining.
- GradCO Professional development workshops developed by Colorado universities for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are available.
- #MentorFirst was created by professors Jen Heemstra (Washington University) and Neil Garg (UCLA) to promote mentorship in the sciences.
- A curated list of high-quality mentorship resources, some of which are already linked here, are included in this comprehensive guide: Council of Graduate Schools
- The NSF requires a graduate student mentorship plan. This webinar from the Council of Graduate Schools offers insight on how PIs can become more effective mentors.
Dr. Renetta Garrison Tull developed this idea, which she calls a Mentor Mirror, to help faculty develop their own Mentoring Philosophy, to help faculty develop into stronger mentors.
Our own AVC for Research, Dr. Jessi Smith, has published work on the need for well-crafted research on-boarding materials for new student researchers. These resources help to establish guidelines for a research group, including ethical & responsible conduct of research.
Writing a Research Group Welcome Letter
This compendium of contracts was pulled together by others but is important for mentors to consider:
Writing a Research Course Syllabus
- An example template of a research course syllabus provided by Dr. Kevin Tvrdy (Chemistry) is provided for faculty here to modify for research courses.
Writing a Dissertation Course Syllabus
- Coming soon!
New NSF requirements now require mentoring plans for graduate students. A template is provided, but additional resources can be accessed here.
The UCCS Center for Student Research has links to three different mentoring templates to support defining project goals and outcomes in a nascent student-faculty collaboration: Mentoring Plan Options