Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER) provides resources for organizations and institutions to improve research mentoring relationships.
Effective research mentoring relationships are critical to developing the next generation of researchers. You'll learn how to improve these relationships at all career stages and promote cultural change that values excellence in research mentoring as a critical aspect of diversifying the research workforce.
The training sessions will be held in A. James Clark Hall, 5th floor conference room, from 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted.
Introduction to Mentor Training
1. Learn about other mentors in the group and begin building a learning community
2. Reflect on group dynamics and ways to make the group functional
3. Establish ground rules for participation
Maintaining Effective Communication
1. Provide constructive feedback
2. Communicate effectively across diverse dimensions including various backgrounds, disciplines, generations, ethnicities, positions of power, etc.
3. Identify different communication styles
4. Engage in active listening
5. Use multiple strategies for improving communication (in person, at a distance, across multiple mentees, and within proper personal boundaries
Aligning Expectations
1. Effectively establish mutual expectations for the mentoring relationship
2. Clearly communicate expectations for the mentoring relationship
3. Align mentee and mentor expectations
4. Consider how personal and professional differences may impact expectations, including differences across disciplines when working in multidisciplinary teams
Assessing Understanding
1. Assess their mentees’ understanding of core concepts and processes
2. Identify various reasons for a lack of understanding, including expert-novice differences
3. Use multiple strategies to enhance mentee understanding across diverse disciplinary perspectives
Addressing Equity and Inclusion
1. Improve and expand understanding of equity and inclusion, and how diversity influences mentor-mentee interactions
2. Recognize the impact of conscious and unconscious assumptions, preconceptions, biases, and prejudices on the mentor-mentee relationship and reflect on how to manage them
3. Identify concrete strategies for learning about, recognizing, and addressing issues of equity and inclusion, in order to engage in conversations about diversity with mentees and foster a sense of belonging
Fostering Independence
1. Define independence, its core elements, and how those elements change over the course of a mentoring relationship
2. Employ various strategies to build mentee confidence, establish trust, and foster independence
3. Identify the benefits and challenges of fostering independence, including the sometimes conflicting goals of fostering independence and achieving grant-funded research objective
Promoting Professional Development
1. Identify the roles mentors play in the overall professional development of their mentees
2. Develop a strategy for guiding professional development using a written document
3. Initiate and sustain periodic conversations with mentees on professional goals and career development objectives and strategies
4. Engage in open dialogue on balancing the competing demands, needs, and interests of mentors and mentees, e.g., research productivity, grant funding, creativity and independence, career preference decisions, non-research activities, personal development, work-family balance, etc.
Articulating Your Mentoring Philosophy and Plan
1. Reflect on the mentor-training experience
2. Reflect on any behavioral or philosophical changes they intend to make across the mentoring competencies
3. Articulate an approach for working with new mentees in the future