Mentoring: no longer just for students

In a year-long series, the Monitor explores what works in mentoring programs.

By Bridget Murray
Monitor staff

Paul Deal didn?t know a soul in his first days as a student in the University of Mississippi?s clinical psychology doctoral program. But he didn?t feel isolated for long. He soon discovered he shared an interest in public service with department chair David Scott Hargrove, PhD.

From 1992?Deal?s first year?onwards, Hargrove linked him with jobs, people and projects in public agencies. Together they worked on a grant evaluation for the Mississippi Department of Mental Health and edited a newsletter for APA?s Div. 18 (Public Service).

At first, Hargrove worked closely with Deal, then stepped back and let him finish projects on his own. 'At the same time that he guided me, he also fostered my independence, and that?s a pretty tricky thing to do,' says Deal, who?s now completing an internship at Arkansas State Hospital in Little Rock. 'I absolutely consider Scotty my mentor,' Deal says. 'He gave me guidance, help, support, assistance, a critical boost to my career.'

Deal?s mentoring relationship evolved naturally. But, recognizing the inestimable value of mentors to students like him, many institutions have built mentoring into their academic programs, assigning and matching mentors to mentees according to people?s shared interests.

The programs are geared for people at all stages of their careers, says APA President-elect Dick Suinn, PhD, of Colorado State University, who considers mentoring an important way to help ethnic minorities progress in psychology careers, one of his upcoming presidential initiatives. Not only do faculty mentor students, but faculty mentor one another, and students mentor one another as well, he says.

Mentoring occurs anytime someone transfers knowledge to another, says Jill Reich, PhD, APA?s executive director for education. For example, beginning faculty familiar with the uses of new technology in teaching and research can pass on that knowledge to senior faculty, says Reich. And mentoring doesn?t just happen on campus, she says. Mentors are also those who oversee students? off-campus field experiences, service learning activities and volunteer work, Reich says.

'There are many people out working in the field who mentor our students in ways that faculty can?t mentor them,' says Reich. 'We need to get away from the hierarchical notion that only teachers mentor students. To be successful in a complex, changing world, students need mentoring in a whole variety of knowledge and experiences.'

Academic programs also approach mentoring differently. In more traditional programs, mentoring occurs through advising and research apprenticeships; less traditional programs use e-mail, the telephone and professional conferences. In a series of Monitor articles following this one, we?ll explore the range of mentoring programs and how they work, each month spotlighting a different one.

What makes a good mentor?

The word 'mentor' derives from Homer?s epic poem 'The Odyssey,' in which Odysseus?s servant, Mentor, served as a wise adviser and teacher to Odysseus?s son, Telemachus. But the term isn?t restricted to an older person passing on knowledge to a younger one, says Suinn.

'Mentoring happens anytime someone more experienced shares that experience to guide another, whether it?s part of a formal program or over coffee,' says Suinn. 'It involves personal contact, a transfer of experiential information that isn?t a part of formal coursework.'

According to Suinn, Hargrove and Puncky P. Heppner, PhD, of the University of Missouri, known for his mentoring in the educational and counseling psychology program there, becoming a good mentor isn?t automatic, but requires that you follow several basic principles:

? Take the time to ask about the mentee?s background and listen carefully to the mentee?s concerns and questions.

? Encourage mentees to build their interests and expertise in their strong areas.

? Raise issues that the mentee may have overlooked, such as the potential to blend two seemingly different research interests.

? Challenge the mentee to pursue career-enhancing opportunities and experiences.

? Earn the mentee?s trust by keeping appointments and responding to queries.

? Tailor your advice to the mentee?s background and learning style.

? Articulate the steps that led to success in your own career.

A good mentor?s message to students is always, 'I have as much time as you need,' says Suinn. 'It?s a lot like counseling in that you?re not going to start off saying ?Here are five things you need to do to improve your grade in this course.? First you listen to why they?re doing poorly in the course, then you work out a solution together.'

It?s also important to respect the parameters of the mentoring relationship, says Heppner. Friendship is part of mentoring, but the relationship shouldn?t cross boundaries into the personal and intimate, he says.

And, for their part, students must be motivated to initiate meetings and keep up the relationship, says Gordon Nagayama Hall, PhD, of Pennsylvania State University, who ran a mentoring workshop at APA?s Annual Convention last month.

Diamonds in the rough

Typically, the mentoring pay-off for mentees is considerable?it guides their careers and can lead to faculty appointments, says Hall. A recent sampling of doctoral recipients, published last year in Teaching of Psychology (Vol. 24, No. 1, p. 15?21), suggests that programs with strong mentoring traditions tend to produce students who stay in academia.

The reward for some faculty is less obvious, says Hall. Although liberal arts colleges often consider mentoring a key part of faculty members? compensation, not all larger institutions do. Unfortunately, some faculty resent mentoring, considering it a time-consuming, secondary duty, says Suinn. But many faculty find mentoring highly fulfilling.

'When you find a student who?s a diamond in the rough and help him or her develop their skills and blossom, it?s a great feeling,' says Hall. 'It?s intrinsically rewarding to see your mentee succeed, if you?ve played even a small part in that person?s success.'

As is true with teaching, some people are better at mentoring than others, and some enjoy it more than others, says Suinn. And a bad mentor can be as damaging as a good one is helpful, he says.

'One human being has so much influence over another that the mentoring relationship could lead to a negative outcome if the mentor only sees mentees? weaknesses and discourages them,' says Suinn. 'That?s why it?s so important that the mentor tune into people?s strengths, and that a program match people up who ?click,? who will play off one another?s strengths.'

An array of approaches

Many mentoring programs allow people to change mentors if their first one isn?t right. This helps people find a mentorship that works. But, beyond that, programs? approaches to mentoring differ considerably, falling into three basic categories:

? Advising?Most undergraduate programs assign incoming students an adviser to help them plan their class schedules. Sometimes the relationship is just that?telling students which courses to take, says Hargrove. But many departments encourage advisers to mentor students as well?helping students interpret their experiences and focus on future plans, he says. Suinn, for instance, says he owes much of his career direction to an undergraduate adviser who, after quizzing Suinn exhaustively on his grades, background and interests, advised him to apply to Stanford University for graduate school. 'That?s how I got my degree from Stanford,' says Suinn.

? Apprenticeship?Some departments, particularly at the graduate level, match incoming students to a faculty member with similar research interests. The department of educational and counseling psychology at the University of Missouri follows such a model, selecting students who will mesh well with faculty. Other programs establish research mentorships at the undergraduate level. For example, the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, a consortium of 14 liberal arts colleges, pairs minority students with professors. They work together on research projects during summers.

? Support?Less formal than advising and apprenticeship models are programs that link people through e-mail, telephone calls and periodic meetings or meals. Some of these programs involve people in the same department or institution, but they don?t have to. A mentoring program run by APA?s Div. 2 (Society for the Teaching of Psychology) matches up senior and junior faculty on different campuses and leaves them to continue the relationship through e-mail, phone contact, meetings or all three. A joint program of the Asian American Psychological Association and APA?s Div. 45 (Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues) works much the same way.

'A lot of times people don?t need concrete resources so much as someone to talk to,' says Barbara Nodine, PhD, who runs the Div. 2 program. 'That's what a mentoring program is there for.'

If your institution or organization is running a mentoring program, whether it's faculty-faculty, faculty-student or student-student, please e-mail us about it.

Further reading

? Hartley, J. & Robinson, M. 'Scholars and mentors: Research in psychology and the production of PhDs.' Psychological Reports, Vol. 79, No. 3, p. 846?896, 1996.

? Shea, G. F.,'Mentoring: How to Develop Successful Mentor Behaviors' (Crisp Publications, 1998).

? Stevens, P. 'How to Network and Select a Mentor' (Resource Publications, 1995).

? Tentoni, S. 'The mentoring of counseling students: A concept in search of a paradigm.' Counselor Education and Supervision, Vol. 35, No. 1, p. 32?34, 1995.