With Loren Hough, Associate Professor, Physics and Faculty Director of DEAI in the Graduate School and Preston Cumming, Professional Development Lead, CTL. These trainings are co-hosted by the Center for Teaching and Learning and the Graduate School.

Participants have the flexibility to attend all sessions of the series or attend any single session as a standalone option. See below for upcoming sessions and to RSVP indivdiaully for each of the sessions you are interested in. 

Upcoming sessions:

Friday, August, 30 from 3:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m. MT - Aligning Expectations, RSVP here

• One critical element of an effective mentor-mentee relationship is a shared understanding of what each person expects from the relationship. Problems between mentors and mentees often arise from misunderstandings about expectations. Importantly, expectations change over time, so frequent reflection and clear communication about expectations are needed on a regular basis.

Friday, September, 27 from 3:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m. MT - Maintaining Effective Communication , RSVP here 

• Good communication is a key element of any relationship, and a mentoring relationship is no exception. It is critical that mentors reflect upon and identify characteristics of effective communication and take time to practice communication skills in the session and with their mentees. As mentors, it is not enough to say that we know good communication when we see it.

Friday, November, 1 from 3:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m. MT - Assessing Understanding, RSVP here

• Determining whether mentees understand core concepts about the research they are doing is critical in a productive mentoring relationship - though this is surprisingly difficult to do. Developing strategies to assess how well mentees understand the purpose of their project, underlying principles, and the context of their work is an important part of becoming an effective mentor. Moreover, it is important for mentors to be able to identify the causes for confusion and develop strategies to address misunderstandings.

Friday, November, 22 from 3:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m. MT - Promoting Independence, RSVP here

• An important goal in any mentoring relationship is helping the mentee become independent; yet defining what an independent mentee knows and can do is often not articulated by the mentor or the mentee. Defining what independence looks like and developing skills to foster independence are important to becoming an effective mentor. Defining independence becomes increasingly complex in the context of highly collaborative projects.