Entering Mentoring

Optimizing Mentoring Relationships: Entering Mentoring

Mentoring Up is an active learning approach designed for post-doctoral scholars and junior faculty to support development of the skills needed to successfully navigate the research training environment and proactively manage their mentoring relationships.

Illustration of three people at a table and one person is speaking

Research mentor training—based upon the book Entering Mentoring opens in new tab has been tested and shown to be effective in increasing mentoring knowledge, skills and behavior. Furthermore, culturally responsive interactions between mentors and mentees can help historically underrepresented mentees successfully progress in their research careers, becoming effective mentors, scientific leaders and research team members of the future.

Objective 

The goal of our mentor training is to accelerate the process of becoming an effective research mentor by providing mentors with an intellectual framework, an opportunity to experiment with various methods, and a forum in which to solve mentoring dilemmas with the help of their peers. By the end of the training, mentors will have articulated their personal style and philosophy of mentoring and have a toolbox of strategies they can use when faced with difficult mentoring situations.

 

Themes And Concepts

Once your training has ben scheduled, you will meet with CIMER’s Principal Facilitator to determine the themes to customize your training. The following themes are included in our mentor training curricula: 

    • Aligning Expectations
      • Could incorporate any existing agreement
    • Articulating Your Mentoring Philosophy and Plan
    • Assessing Understanding
    • Cultivating Ethical Behavior
    • Enhancing Work-Life Integration
    • Enhancing Cultural Awareness
    • Fostering Independence
    • Fostering Wellbeing
    • Maintaining Effective Communication
    • Promoting Mentee Research Self-Efficacy
    • Promoting Professional Development
      • Could incorporate existing IDPs
    • Reflecting on Diversity and Establishing a Practice of Inclusion (formerly Addressing Equity & Inclusion)
  • You can view the learning objectives for each theme online. (PDF)

Implementation

We offer customized research mentor training workshops led by CIMER Principal Facilitators. Workshops range from full day to two days and are available for the mentors of undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows or junior faculty working with trainees across disciplines. The trainings are available in person at your organization for up to 32 participants, or online up to 24 participants. 

 

Copyright information

CIMER mentor/mentee training curricula (“CIMER Curricula”) are based upon the curriculum in the publication Entering Mentoring (Pfund, Branchaw, and Handelsman, 2014) and Entering Research (Branchaw, Butz, & Smith, 2019) and are used/adapted with permission from W.H. Freeman/Macmillan Learning.

Copyrights for the CIMER Curricula are managed by CIMER and the Wisconsin Center for Education Research on behalf of each work’s respective author[s]. The user of the CIMER Curricula shall have and is hereby granted a limited license to copy and distribute the CIMER Curricula for personal and educational in-service uses only. Any use of the CIMER Curricula shall maintain the provided attribution[s]. Any use of the CIMER Curricula beyond this limited license requires express written permission from CIMER.