Guidelines for Good Practice in Graduate Education

Mentoring

Graduate education depends primarily on the establishment of an intellectual relationship between a graduate student and mentoring faculty members. Mentors most frequently serve as wise and trusted advisors, supporters, tutors, visionaries, challengers, guides, advocates, and models. The reward of finding a faculty mentor implies that the student has achieved a level of excellence and sophistication in the field, or exhibits sufficient promise to merit the more intensive interest, instruction, and counsel of faculty.

In this context, the student's role is to:

• devote an appropriate amount of time and energy toward achieving academic excellence and earning an advanced degree in a timely fashion
• recognize the constraints and other demands imposed on faculty members and program staff
• take the initiative to communicate regularly with faculty advisors, especially in matters related to research and progress within the graduate program

In this context, the faculty member's role is to:

• provide clear direction for the requirements each student must meet, including course work, languages, research tools, examinations, and thesis or dissertation, delineating the amount of time expected to complete each step
• evaluate student progress and performance in regular and informative ways consistent with the practice of the field; offer fair opportunities for students to correct deficiencies in their work
• offer adequate time to meet with students
• attend committee meetings and examinations, and participate with full attention in these activities
• help students develop artistic, interpretive, writing, oral communication, and quantitative skills in accordance with the expectations of the discipline
• where appropriate, assist graduate students to develop grant writing skills
• take reasonable measures to ensure that each graduate student initiates thesis or dissertation research in a timely fashion
• provide oral or written comments and evaluation of students' work in a timely manner
• when appropriate, encourage graduate students to participate in professional meetings or perform or display their work in public settings
• prepare students to be competitive for employment, which includes providing current information about the field and the market, making use of professional contacts for the benefit of students, and supporting students' employment goals without being prescriptive
• create an ethos of collegiality so that learning takes place within a community of scholars
• continue to be an advisor and colleague after student graduates