Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Mentor-Based Training Empowers Grad Students
A student-advisor relationship is a two-way street. Graduate students gain valuable training and support, advisors gain new ideas about research. But why do some grad students say mentors are the key to their success?
In early 2005, Kristin Michod Gagnier had an important decision to make. Her undergraduate experience had helped her formulate what she wanted in a graduate program in psychology. So she did her homework and came up with a short list of schools whose faculty research interests matched her own. When she contacted a professor in UD’s Psychology Department about lab openings, she was pleasantly surprised.
“My advisor was fabulous,” says Kristin of the professor who later became her mentor (Professor Helene Intraub). Now a fourth year grad student in Cognitive Psychology, Kristin credits the mentor/student relationship with helping her succeed. “I’ve really learned how to be an independent researcher,“ she notes.
“Faculty advisors play a major role” in student success, claims Santiba Campbell, a fifth-year Social Psychology grad student who gives her mentor (Professor James Jones) high marks: “He introduces me to new ideas, tells me when I need to dig deeper to solve a problem. It feels more like a ‘colleague’ relationship than ‘teacher/student.’ It feels like family. “
That kind of mutual respect and support is no accident. Says Paul Quinn, Director of Graduate Studies for the Psychology Department: “The advisor provides scientific training, helps students learn about content areas and how to conduct experiments.” In return, professors gain “collaboration – someone to engage in deep thinking of ideas with you.”
In the 2008/2009 academic year, there are 50 graduate students in the program as a whole. This year, the department has admitted 9 new grad students out of an applicant pool of approximately 270 candidates. Faculty members expend significant time and energy reviewing candidates to ensure a good match is made between mentor and student. And while not every faculty member is a primary mentor, all are involved in supporting student’ success. As Quinn puts it: “We encourage students to have relationships not just with primary mentors but also with other faculty and fellow students. This is a community with lots of smart people. We want grad students to take full advantage of that community.”
