Making The Most Of Being Mentored

Explains how to pick a mentor and captitalize on the experience, skills, and resources of experienced individuals

As skilled, educated and motivated as you are, learning from someone who knows the ins and outs of your organization and your industry can be a powerful business asset. But the responsibility to find that person, build a strong relationship, and put your knowledge to work starts with you. Learn how to create and maintain a mutually rewarding mentor/mentee relationship.

Mentorship is a catalyst capable of unleashing one's potential for discovery, curiosity, and participation in STEMM and subsequently improving the training environment in which that STEMM potential is fostered. Mentoring relationships provide developmental spaces in which students' STEMM skills are honed and pathways into STEMM fields can be discovered. Because mentorship can be so influential in shaping the future STEMM workforce, its occurrence should not be left to chance or idiosyncratic implementation. There is a gap between what we know about effective mentoring and how it is practiced in higher education. The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM studies mentoring programs and practices at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It explores the importance of mentorship, the science of mentoring relationships, mentorship of underrepresented students in STEMM, mentorship structures and behaviors, and institutional cultures that support mentorship. This report and its complementary interactive guide present insights on effective programs and practices that can be adopted and adapted by institutions, departments, and individual faculty members.

Getting Mentored in Graduate School is the first guide to mentoring relationships written exclusively for graduate students. Research has shown that students who are mentored enjoy many benefits, including better training, greater career success, and a stronger professional identity. Authors Johnson and Huwe draw directly from their own experiences as mentor and protege to advise students on finding a mentor and maintaining the mentor relationship throughout graduate school. Conversational, accessible, and informative, this book offers practical strategies that can be employed not only by students pursuing mentorships but also by professors seeking to improve their mentoring skills. Johnson and Huwe arm readers with the tools they need to anticipate and prevent common pitfalls and to resolve problems that may arise in mentoring relationships. This book is essential reading for students who want to learn and master the unwritten rules that lead to finding a mentor and getting more from graduate school and your career.

As skilled, educated and motivated as you are, learning from someone who knows the ins and outs of your organization and your industry can be a powerful business asset. But the responsibility to find that person, build a strong relationship, and put your knowledge to work starts with you. Learn how to create and maintain a mutually rewarding mentor/mentee relationship.

Mentorship practice has been part of the human experience since the Golden Age of Greece. Engaging with a mentor as a way to learn and achieve one’s full potential is an ancient and respected practice. And, it has been the keystone on which the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) has built its program over the past three decades. Trailblazers, such as Dr. Estelle Ramey and Dr. Anne Briscoe, experienced first-hand the isolation of women in the country’s male-dominated scientific establishment and worked to build an organization that would promote women through mentoring relationships. Dr. Ramey, who earned her degree in p- siology and biophysics and taught at Georgetown Medical School, was a we- known feminist speaker and writer. Noted for her great wit, she once quipped, ‘‘I was startled to learn that ovarian hormones are toxic to brain cells. ’’ Throughout her career, Dr. Ramey decried sexist comments and situations that treated women as less than fully human. She felt very strongly about how little, if anything, it took to extend a helping hand to someone else in a way that could really make a huge difference in her life. As she wrote in her book called Letters to our Grandchildren, ‘‘If I could leave you with any advice, it would be to speak words of caring not only to those closest to you, but to all the hungry ears you encounter on your journey through a cold world.

PRAISE FOR THE MENTEE'S GUIDE "The Mentee's Guide inspires and guides the potential mentee, provides new insights for the adventure in learning that lies ahead, and underscores my personal belief and experience that mentoring is circular. The mentor gains as much as the mentee in this evocative relationship. Lois Zachary's new book is a great gift." Frances Hesselbein, chairman and founding president, Leader to Leader Institute "Whether you are the mentee or mentor, born or made for the role, you will gain much more from the relationship by practicing the fun and easy A-to-Z principles of The Mentee's Guide by the master of excellence, Lois Zachary." Ken Shelton, editor, Leadership Excellence "With this deeply practical book filled with stories and useful exercises, Lois Zachary completes her groundbreaking trilogy on mentoring. Must-reading for those in search of a richer understanding of this deeply human relationship as well as anyone seeking a mentor, whether for new skills, job advancement, or deeper wisdom." Laurent A. Parks Daloz, senior fellow, the Whidbey Institute, and author, Mentor: Guiding the Journey of Adult Learners