A UCR Handbook

2. Paulo Freire on Mentoring:
“The fundamental task of the mentor is a liberatory task. It is not to encourage the
mentor’s goals and aspirations and dreams to be reproduced in the mentees, the
students, but to give rise to the possibility that the students become the owners of
their own history. This is how I understand the need that teachers have to
transcend their merely instructive task and to assume the ethical posture of a
mentor who truly believes in the total autonomy, freedom, and development of
those he or she mentors.”
From
Mentoring the Mentor
1

3. Table of Contents
A Note from Dean Childers ..................................................................................3
Introduction and Acknowledgements..................................................................4
What is a Mentor? ..................................................................................................5
Why Be a Mentor?..................................................................................................7
Common Misconceptions about Mentoring ........................................................9
What Does a Faculty Mentor Do? ......................................................................10
How Do I Begin Mentoring? ................................................................................16
Establishing Your Mentoring Relationship.........................................................17
Developing Professional Relationships...............................................................19
Mentoring in a Diverse Community...................................................................21
Common Themes Across Groups............................................................................. 21
Themes Particular to Specific Groups...................................................................... 25
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer (LGBTQ) Graduate Students...................... 25
Returning Graduate Students............................................................................................................ 26
Students with Working Class Backgrounds................................................................................... 27
Women Graduate Students .............................................................................................................. 29
Students with Disabilities ................................................................................................................... 30
Graduate Students with Family Responsibilities ........................................................................... 32
Underrepresented Minority Graduate Students .......................................................................... 33
Wrapping It Up ....................................................................................................37
Graduate Division Contacts ................................................................................39
Works Cited and Consulted................................................................................42
2

4. A Note from Dean Childers
Dear Colleagues:
Congratulations on being selected to UC Riverside’s new Mentor Program. I am excited
to welcome you to the launch of a project I see as essential to the success of graduate
students across the curriculum.
Mentors have always played a crucial role in the accomplishments of graduate students,
and here at UCR, faculty have embraced that responsibility. This year, we are fortunate to
have the resources to create mentoring teams that include both faculty and graduate
students. In doing so, I believe we have begun to create a kind of mentoring relationship
that will help our diverse population achieve great successes.
Mentoring styles are many and varied, and I know that most of you have had experience
mentoring a wide range of students. The purpose of this guide is not to interfere with
your understanding of the mentoring process, but rather to provide support for the skills
you have, remind you of details and situations you may have forgotten, and provide
resources specific to UCR so that you might utilize them in your mentoring. We also
hope that this will be a helpful tool for those who are new to mentoring in an
environment as diverse as that of UCR.
In this first year of our mentoring program, I urge you to track carefully your processes,
progress, and successes so that we can reproduce your efforts in the future. All of your
feedback is important both to me and to those others whose work has contributed to this
beginning, a beginning I hope together we can turn into an ongoing championing of the
graduate community.
I appreciate the time you take to read this guide, your commitment to your professional
development, and your dedication to the rewarding work of mentoring your fellow
graduate students.
Joe Childers
Graduate Dean
UCR
3

5. Introduction and Acknowledgements
In putting together this UCR mentoring handbook, we consulted resources and materials
from multiple peer institutions. We adapted many aspects of mentoring handbooks
developed by the Rackham School of Graduate Studies, University of Nebraska, Lincoln,
Washington University, and others. Their themes resonated well with our own campus
experience. UCR’s graduate students, faculty, and staff were likewise instrumental in
adding to our handbook their insights and experience. Finally, much of this information
was borrowed from the UCR website.
Like most program rollouts, ours is experimental and subject to change. We hope to gain
from this initial foray into mentoring the kind of information most readily available from
the ground zero perspective. This handbook will change and grow as our program
develops and our goals and outcomes become clearer. It will improve as both mentors
and mentees provide us with accounts of triumphs and failures, of challenges and
solutions, of ideas and innovations.
4

6. What is a Mentor?
Most university professors already assume the
role of advisor to graduate students in their
departments or programs. The role of advisor is
generally focused on academic progress, but the
role of mentor requires more than advising.
Effective mentoring involves playing a more
expansive role in the development of a future
colleague, a role centered on a commitment to
advancing the student’s career through an interpersonal engagement that facilitates
sharing guidance, experience, and expertise.
Like any interpersonal relationship, the one between mentor and student will evolve over
time, with its attendant share of adjustments. The fact that today’s students come from an
increasingly diverse backgrounds may add a layer of complexity, but that added
dimension of difference is more likely to enrich than confound the relationship.
New graduate students, in particular, may express the desire for a mentor with whom they
can personally identify, but their eventual level of satisfaction with their mentors seems
to have little to do with this aspect of the relationship. This confirms the important point
that you can be a successful mentor even if you and your student don’t share similar
backgrounds. Of course, each mentoring relationship should be tailored to the student’s
goals, needs and learning style, but the core principles apply across the board. What you
and the student share – a commitment to the goals of the scholarly enterprise and a desire
to succeed – is far more powerful and relevant than whatever might seem to divide you.
Just as students have different learning styles, the skill sets and aptitudes of mentors are
as varied as mentors themselves. There is no foolproof recipe. Our intent is to help you
become a successful mentor in your own way.
5

7. Faculty Mentors in the UCR Mentoring program have multiple responsibilities:
• They interact with, advise, and mentor two Peer Mentors and four Graduate
Mentees.
• They take an interest in developing another person’s career and well-being.
• They have an interpersonal as well as a professional relationship with those whom
they mentor.
• They advance a person’s academic and professional goals in directions most
desired by the individual.
• They tailor mentoring styles and content to individuals, including adjustments due
to differences in culture, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic opportunity, physical
ability or any other.
• They share stories with students about their own educational careers and the ways
they overcame obstacles.
• They help students manage interaction with professors both in class and during
office hours.
• They show students how they learned time management.
• They listen to students describe personal problems and explore resources at
the university to deal with problems.
• They help new students understand how to use academic resources at the
university.
6

8. Why Be a Mentor?
Mentoring benefits new students:
• It supports their advancement in research activity, conference presentations,
publication, pedagogical skill, and grant-writing.
• Students are less likely to feel ambushed by potential bumps in the road, having
been alerted to them and provided resources for dealing with stressful or difficult
periods in their graduate careers.
• The experiences and networks their mentors help them to accrue may improve
the students’ prospects of securing professional placement.
• The knowledge that someone is committed to their progress, someone who can
give them solid advice, can help to lower stress and build confidence.
• Constructive interaction with a mentor and participation in collective activities he
or she arranges promote engagement in the field.
And it rewards mentors in an abundance of ways:
• Your mentees will engage you in their research, which will keep you abreast of
new knowledge and techniques and apprise you of promising avenues for your
own research.
• A faculty member’s reputation rests in part on the
work of his or her former students; sending
successful new scholars into the field increases your
professional stature.
• Good students will be attracted to you. Word gets
around about who the best mentors are, so they are
usually the most likely to recruit – and retain –
outstanding students.
• Your networks are enriched. Helping students make the professional and personal
connections they need to succeed will greatly extend your own circle of
colleagues.
• It’s personally satisfying. Seeing your mentees succeed can be very rewarding.
7

9. Effective mentoring advances the discipline because these students often begin making
significant contributions long before they complete their graduate degrees. Such students
are more likely to have productive, distinguished, and ethical careers that reflect credit on
their mentors and enrich the discipline. Effective mentoring helps to ensure the quality of
research, scholarship and teaching well into the future.
8

10. Common Misconceptions about
Mentoring
 Misconception: In a university, you need to be an older person with gray hair (or
no hair) to be a good mentor.
 Reality: In a university, mentors can be young or old. Some of the most
outstanding mentors of students are young faculty and fellow students.
 Misconception: By calling yourself a “Mentor,” you become a mentor.
 Reality: Mentors are those who have developed consciousness about mentoring
and in their interactions with students demonstrate respect, patience,
trustworthiness, and strong communication skills, especially listening skills.
 Misconception: Mentoring programs at universities only are for high-achieving
students.
 Reality: All students need mentors, particularly those students who don’t have
academic role models or mentors in their families or communities. Mentoring
opportunities in graduate education provides students with necessary support
services to help them succeed academically and serve their communities. Thus,
central to the mission of the UCR Mentoring Program is the practice of mentoring
to ensure that the university meets this responsibility for all of its students.
 Misconception: Only the person being mentored benefits from mentoring.
 Reality: By definition, mentoring is a reciprocal relationship where both the
mentor and mentor learn from each other. True mentors are those who have
developed the wisdom to learn from those they mentor.
9

11. What Does a Faculty Mentor Do?
The mentor’s duties begin with the first meeting and extend through the first year of the
mentee’s graduate program. The mentor’s duties go well beyond helping students learn
what is entailed in the research and writing components of graduate school. First and
foremost, mentors socialize students into the culture of the discipline, clarifying and
reinforcing—both by example and verbally—what is expected of a professional scholar.
Here are some of the basic responsibilities mentors have to those graduate students who
seek their guidance.
• Make a Commitment: Those who wish to become faculty mentors are asked to
commit to mentoring students for at least one year.
• Demystify graduate school. Many aspects of
graduate education are unwritten or vague, and
the ability of new students to understand them is
hampered by the fact that they frequently do not
know what questions to ask or what certain
terminology means. Mentors can help by
adjusting conversations accordingly and
clarifying each program’s expectations for lab
work, coursework, comprehensive exams, research topics, and teaching. For
each stage of the student’s program, discuss the prevailing norms and criteria
used to define quality performance.
• Model professional responsibility. It is crucial that the mentor
consciously act with integrity in every aspect of his or her work as teacher,
researcher, and author. Students must see that their mentors recognize and avoid
conflicts of interest, collect and use data responsibly, fairly award authorship
credit, cite source materials appropriately, use research funds ethically, and treat
animal or human research subjects properly. This list is not meant to be
10

12. exhaustive: never compromising the standards that bestow validity on the
discipline is not a suggested guideline but essential to the profession.
Encourage the effective use of time. Work with the student on developing
schedules and meeting benchmarks. Share techniques and
practices that have been useful for others but don’t insist there is
only one way. Rather, help them blaze their own trail and devise
a plan that keeps them on it. For many students, the shift from
the highly structured nature of undergraduate education to the
self-direction that is expected in graduate school presents a
significant challenge.
• Promote skill development: Help your
mentee(s) to expand and improve academic and career skills. Work together to
learn how to accomplish specific goals (e.g., refining research skills or
brainstorming for a project or assignment). When and where appropriate,
emphasize educational or career management skills, such as decision-making,
goal setting, dealing with conflict, values clarification, and skills for coping
with stress and fear.
• Oversee professional development. Activities that have become second
nature to you need to be made explicit to students, such as faculty governance
and service, directing a lab, procuring grants, managing budgets, and being able
to explain your research to anyone outside your discipline. Mentors help their
students become full-fledged members of a profession and not just researchers.
Assist mentee(s) in accessing academic and university resources. Provide
information — or better yet, help your mentee(s) to find information about
academic resources (faculty, staff, academic support services, student
organizations, etc.). Assist your mentee(s) in learning how to access and use
these resources. Don’t assume that just because new graduate students know
where their professors’ offices are that they also understand how to talk to their
professors or how to choose an exams or dissertation committee.
11

13. • Enhance your mentees’ ability to interact comfortably and
productively with people/groups from diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, and
socioeconomic backgrounds. Contrary to popular belief, we are not “all the
same.” It is important to acknowledge and understand, not ignore, our
differences. We need to learn how to use our differences as resources for
growth. Respecting our differences is necessary but not sufficient; we need to
know how to negotiate our differences in ways that produce new understandings
and insights. Everyone holds particular preconceptions and stereotypes about
one’s own group and other groups. Take special care that you are not
(intentionally or unintentionally) promoting your own views and values at the
expense of your mentees’ viewpoints. Work at understanding and critically
examining your own perspectives on race, sex, ethnicity, culture, class, religion,
sexual orientation, and gender identity. Your own willingness to interact with
individuals and groups different from yourself will make a powerful statement
about the value placed on diversity.
• Assist with finding other mentors. One size doesn’t fit all, and one
mentor can’t provide all the guidance and support that every student needs.
Introduce students to faculty, emeriti, alumni, staff and other graduate students
who have complementary interests. Effective mentoring is a community effort.
• Be a good listener: Listen, Listen, Listen. Ask about your mentee(s)
questions or problems and really listen to the answers. Let them vent their fears,
frustrations and other important feelings, maintaining eye
contact and showing that you’re interested in what they have
to say. Resist the urge to give advice too soon.
• Maintain Confidentiality: Students will be encouraged
to come to faculty mentors for issues they cannot resolve with
their peer mentors or that they feel would be better addressed
by faculty mentors: these conversations should remain
confidential. However, there might be occasions when a problem arises that the
12

14. faculty mentor is not equipped to deal with. These cases include psychological
crises, major problems in the degree process, situations requiring the aid of a
trained counselor, or any other case in which the faculty mentor feels is beyond
his or her expertise. In such cases, the faculty mentor should consult with the
student about his or her options, including the consultation of an outside source
for additional advice. This may require that mentee’s give permission for a
faculty mentor to share information pertinent in solving a problem.
The fundamental rubric for mentors is to be partial to the student but impartial about the
student’s work.
Clarity is the foundation upon which such a relationship is built. Be transparent about
both your expectations concerning the form and function of the relationship and about
what’s reasonable to expect of you and what isn’t. Pay particular attention to boundaries,
both personal and professional, and respect theirs just as you expect them to respect
yours.
Within mutually agreeable limits, mentors have an open door. Because your time is so
valuable, it is often the most precious thing you can give. What lies behind that door,
literally and figuratively, should be a haven of sorts. Give students your full attention
when they are talking with you, and the time and encouragement to open up. Try to
minimize interruptions. Consider scheduling an occasional meeting away from the office
or department to help create more personalized time.
Use concrete language to critique students’ work. What the mentor communicates with
the students must be timely, clear, and, above all, constructive. Critical feedback is
essential, but it is more likely to be effective if tempered with praise when deserved.
Remind students that you are holding them to high standards in order to help them
improve.
Mentors keep track of their students’ progress and achievements, setting milestones and
acknowledging accomplishments. Let your students know from the start that you want
them to succeed, and create opportunities for them to demonstrate their competencies.
13

15. When you feel a student is prepared, suggest or nominate him or her for fellowships,
projects, and teaching opportunities.
Encourage students to try new techniques, expand their skills, and discuss their ideas,
even those they fear might seem naive or unworkable. Let students know that mistakes
are productive because we learn from our failures. These practices nurture self-
sufficiency. As tempting as it can be to dictate paths, the person in front of you has
different strengths and aspirations.
Provide support in times of discouragement as well as success, and be mindful of signs of
emotional and physical distress. Don’t assume that the only students who need help are
those who ask for it. If a student is falling behind in his or her work, resist concluding
that this shows a lack of commitment. Perhaps the student is exhausted, or unclear about
what to do next, or is uncomfortable with some aspect of the project or research team.
Although it is ultimately the responsibility of students to initiate contact with you, it may
make a difference if you get in touch with those students who are becoming remote. Let
them know they are welcome to talk with you during your office hours, and that the
conversation can include nonacademic as well as academic issues.
Being open and approachable is particularly important when a student is shy or comes
from a different cultural background. Many new students suffer from the impostor
syndrome – anxiety about whether they belong in graduate school – so it’s important to
reassure them of their skills and abilities to succeed. The enthusiasm and optimism you
show can be inspirational. Make sure that students understand not only the personal
consequences of their commitment to their work, but also its value to the professional
community and to the general public.
Share what you’ve learned as both a scholar and a member of a profession. You might
think things are obvious to students that aren’t. At the same time, tell your students what
you learn from them. This will make them realize they are potential colleagues.
Identify professional workshops and networking opportunities for students. Involve
students in editing, journal activities, conference presentations, and grant writing.
14

16. Of course, it isn’t necessary to embody all of these attributes in order to be a successful
mentor. Individuals have relative strengths in their capacity for mentoring, and mentors
should be clear about what they can and cannot offer. Part of effective mentoring is
knowing when to refer someone to another resource that might be more helpful.
Most important and more than any particular piece of advice or supportive act, your
students will remember how they were treated. The example you set as a person will have
a profound effect on how they conduct themselves as professionals.
15

17. How Do I Begin
Mentoring?
You were likely mentored in some fashion, so you may find it a useful starting point to
think about how you felt (or feel) about your own mentoring. Consider these questions:
• What kind of mentoring did you have?
• What did you like and dislike about the mentoring you received?
• How well did your mentor(s) help you progress through your graduate program?
• How well did your mentor(s) prepare you for your academic career?
• What did you not receive in the way of mentoring that would have been helpful to you?
Thinking about these points can help you develop a vision of the kind of mentor you want
to be and the most effective ways you can mentor students both inside and outside your
discipline.
You likely met, or will meet, your peer mentors and your graduate mentees at a social
gathering before the academic year begins. Follow up by contacting them by email or by
phone. You will receive contact information for each one of them. Invite each one of
your mentees to a brief individual meeting so you can get to know one other and establish
your relationships
In the companion mentoring guide for graduate student mentees, GENERAL
GUIDELINES FOR GRADUATE MENTEES, we suggest that they undertake a critical
self-appraisal before they meet with both faculty and peer mentors. Below is a modified
version of this list for you to consider discussing at your first meeting.
16

18. • Find out about your mentee’s previous educational experiences and why he or she
decided to go to graduate school. What does the student hope to achieve in
pursuing a graduate degree?
• Discuss your research projects and how they complement or diverge from your
mentee’s interests.
• Offer suggestions about courses the student might consider, labs that might be
appropriate, and other training experiences she or he could seek.
• Refer the student to other people inside or outside the University whom she or he
should meet in order to begin developing professional networks.
Establishing Your Mentoring Relationship.
You and your mentees need to communicate clearly from the start about your respective
roles and responsibilities. Some people find it helpful to put
such arrangements in writing, while recognizing that
circumstances and needs can change. Here are a few
areas you may want to discuss.
• Goals: Ask students to develop and share with you a work plan that includes
short-term and long-term goals as well as the timeframe for reaching those goals.
Make sure the student’s work plan both meets the program’s requirements and is
feasible.
• Meetings: There is a structured set of four meetings scheduled between you and
your peer mentors and graduate mentees for the first quarter. You should invite
your mentees to meet with you alone sometime in the first two weeks of the
quarter and then again near the end, but other meetings will likely be necessary.
Tell students how frequently you will be able to meet with them, and that it is
their responsibility to arrange and take the lead in any extra meetings they need or
want. Let them know your own schedule and limitations.
17

19. • Thresholds: Be explicit about the kinds of issues you feel require a face-to-face
meeting. Also let students know if they may contact you at home, and under what
circumstances, and ask them their preferences as well.
• Drafts: If you agree to read their work, discuss your expectations of what first
drafts should look like before they are submitted to you. If you do not want read
drafts, suggest they share their work first with a trusted peer or writing group.
The hallmark of a successful mentoring relationship is a shared understanding of
expectations and responsibilities. These create the framework for the relationship, and
they are largely established in the early meetings with a student. A relatively modest
investment in those meetings can yield great dividends.
18

20. Developing Professional
Relationships
While graduate students deserve your support and attention,
the specific needs of a first-year student just learning the ropes
and fretting about the long and challenging road ahead are
different from those of a student who is nearing completion of
the dissertation and has refocused on career decisions. Here,
the apprenticeship model of nineteenth-century graduate
education is insufficient. The responsibility of the twenty-first-century mentor is to assist
in the development of the next generation of scholars and researchers, and that requires a
relationship of ever-growing collegiality.
The greatest challenge that faculty face with incoming graduate students is helping them
make the transition from the format of undergraduate education – the short-term goals,
predictable closure and tight structure of course work – to the unfamiliar, loosely
structured, and relatively open-ended world of lab, research and dissertation. Mentors
sometimes need to be directive, maintain a short-term focus, and assign concrete tasks
and deadlines.
As students become more proficient with the basics, good mentors pay increasing
attention to their progress both as researchers, by acting as a consultant or sounding
board, and as professionals, by socializing them into the culture of their disciplines.
The former means suggesting lines of inquiry and options for solving problems and
discussing potential outcomes. The latter means encouraging the development of
communication and networking skills by providing opportunities for teaching, writing,
and presenting.
Good mentors help students gradually understand how their objectives fit into the
particular graduate degree program, departmental life, and postgraduate options. As the
relationship evolves, mentors expect and encourage their students to accept increasing
19

21. responsibility and more complex challenges. It’s essential to keep in mind that the
doctoral program is the beginning rather than the sum of the student’s career. The
mentor’s “end game” requires assisting the student in successfully launching that career.
In particular, mentors need to understand that it is much harder today to find a tenure-
track position or even, in many fields, any full-time faculty position. This makes the
mentor’s guidance, encouragement, networking and promotion of the student more
critical than ever. If the relationship is, indeed, lifelong, then opportunities to provide
such assistance don’t end with the completion of the degree.
In other fields, the majority of graduate students will pursue non-academic positions. In
working with them the mentor’s function goes beyond the promotion of academic
success, and so the mentor must be open minded about the students’ career interests and
paths, and help them to explore those options outside the academic world if that is where
their interests lie.
The influence that research supervisors wield over their students is enormous; they are
truly the gatekeepers of the student’s professional future. The effective mentor serves as
advocate and guide, empowering the student to move from novice to professional.
20

22. Mentoring in a Diverse Community
The conventional categorization of students as traditional and non-
traditional has outlived its usefulness.
Graduate education is continually evolving: content and practices have
changed over the decades and so have the students. If we put women,
students from historically underrepresented groups, international
students, LGBTQ students, students with disabilities, students economically and
educationally disadvantaged, and students with children all in one category, it would
constitute the majority of graduate students in the U.S. The diversity of those in graduate
education has forced us to consider what is worth preserving and transmitting, and what
is rooted in assumptions about homogeneity and should be adapted or discarded.
Research on the role that social identity plays in an individual’s ability to succeed in
graduate school indicates that there are issues that call for attention and thoughtfulness on
the part of their mentors.
Common Themes Across Groups
The Imposter Syndrome
At one time or another nearly every graduate student wonders about his or her
competence: “Sure, I got into grad school, but it is just a matter of time before (insert
bad news here: I am exposed, I get kicked out, they find their
mistake, or I fail.) I am obviously not as smart as everyone
else, and that will soon become obvious.”
Often, even new faculty members suffer from the imposter
syndrome, wondering if the first or the second published
article was a fluke, if it is possible to repeat the kind of success
they have had. The impostor syndrome runs rampant in academia—and women and
minority students are especially prone to it.
The impostor syndrome is the feeling of being an intellectual fraud, and it is
particularly rife among high achieving persons. It is characterized by the inability to
21

23. accept one’s successes: denying accomplishments, awards, and academic excellence
as well as dismissing success as simply luck, good timing, or perseverance. Those
who suffer from Imposter Syndrome believe that they have only fooled people into
accepting them into their university or program. They deem themselves less capable
than others believe. This, of course, is not true. What it is, however, is damaging to a
graduate student’s self-esteem, and therefore, to his or her productivity. The Imposter
Syndrome perpetuates an unwillingness to contribute to discussions or to take
reasonable risks in research projects for fear of being found out.
Realistic and accurate assessments of performance are essential to eliminating the
imposter syndrome. It is difficult, however, to help sufferers because they often just
believe that you are fooled too. You might try documenting the successes of your
mentee, including the specific actions that led to the success. Note the experience and
qualities that the mentee brings to the University. When your mentee seems
particularly doubtful of his or her performance, you can remind him or her of the
details of the recent success. Sharing your own feelings about intellectual pressure
will help. Knowing that most people question their abilities allows new sufferers to
look past this emotional barrier.
• Need for Role Models: Students from historically underrepresented or
marginalized groups have a harder time finding faculty role models who might have
had experiences similar to their own. Help establish relationships between your
mentee and faculty and graduate students in your department whose experiences
might resonate with your mentee’s. At the same time, never forget that you can
provide excellent mentoring to students whose backgrounds are different from your
own.
• Questioning the Canons: Students from underrepresented or marginalized
groups, particularly those in the social sciences and humanities, sometimes find that
their research interests do not fit into the current academic canons. Some fear that
when they select research questions focusing on race, gender, class, or sexual
orientation,
22

24. faculty will deem their work irrelevant, and others will see them as being only
interested in these topics for the rest of their professional careers. More commonly,
they find that their experiences are missing from current theory and research. If you
are open to hearing students’ experiences and perspectives, and if you ask where a
student’s research interests lie rather than making assumptions about them based on
the student’s personal characteristics or past work, students will realize that their
choices are really their own. If they choose to do research in areas like race, gender,
class, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, you can support them by letting them know
how investigating these areas helps to expand disciplines. Direct them to the many
interdisciplinary programs and research centers across campus that may provide them
with a community of scholars whose interests intersect with their own.
• Feelings of Isolation. Students from historically underrepresented groups and
international students can feel particularly isolated or alienated from other students in
their departments, especially if the composition of the current program is
homogenous. Be aware of students who seem to be finding
it particularly difficult to take active roles in academic or
social settings and take the initiative to include them. Ask
them about their research interests, hobbies and activities
outside of their program. Introduce your student to other
students and faculty with complementary interests.
Remind students of the wealth of organizations within or outside the University that
might provide them with a sense of community.
• Burden of Being a Spokesperson. Students from
underrepresented groups often expend a lot of time and
energy speaking up when issues such as race, class, gender,
ability, status, or sexual orientation arise – or are being
ignored. Support your mentees’ experience of difference.
Listen to them explain how race, gender, or other
characteristics provide different perspectives from those being expressed.
23

25. • Concern about speaking up in class. Certain conditions may be greater obstacles for
some students than for others. For example, research has shown that an overly
competitive and critical atmosphere in graduate programs can alienate women and
minority students as the system often does not reward praising the contributions of
non-traditional scholars. Stay attuned to what’s happening in class.
• Suffering from stereotypes. Few of us go through life without suffering the
experience of others’ assumptions, and it still is challenging to displace that
nineteenth-century gentleman scholar as the typical graduate student. While each
identity group may face different issues and experiences, all students from that group
will not share the same thoughts and perspectives. Social class, geographic origin,
economic status, health and a wealth of other factors also play an important role in
shaping behaviors and attitudes. Recognizing each student’s unique strengths and
scholarly promise will go far to eliminate stereotypes.
24

26. Themes Particular to Specific Groups
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer
(LGBTQ) Graduate Students
LGBTQ students say that it is not uncommon to encounter homophobia in
the classroom. Remarks can range from the blatantly offensive to the less
obvious such as “that is so gay.” Some LGBTQ students are out about their sexual
orientation or gender identities and easy to identify. Others are invisible, and these
students become a challenge to mentor because they do not feel comfortable, or they do
not think it appropriate, to reveal their identities. If
you
assume
there
are
LGBTQ
students
present
who
may
not
feel
safe
in
being
out,
you
will
fare
better
at
making
these
students
feel
that
the
university
both
values
and
welcomes
them.
Try
to
be
sensitive
to
whether
anti-­‐gay
comments
are
being
made,
and
discuss
how
they
may
be
offensive
to
other
students
in
the
class
or
discussion,
even
when
you
don’t
think
there
are
any
LGBT
students
in
the
room.
Be
aware
that
examples
you
and
others
in
the
class
are
using
may
be
based
on
heterosexual
experiences.
For
example,
when
talking
about
families,
don’t
talk
as
if
every
family
is
composed
of
a
husband,
wife,
and
children.
Simply
using
a
word
like
“spouse
and
partner”
instead
of
just
“spouse”
can
go
a
long
way
in
making
LGBT
students
(and
unmarried
students)
feel
they
are
represented
in
the
discussion.
Being out as an LGBTQ student (or faculty) is not a one-time
event, but instead is a decision the person experiences each
time she or he enters a new situation. LGBTQ students face a
burden of having to assess the personal, social and political
ramifications of disclosing their sexual orientation each time
they do so. Since heterosexual students do not have to
disclose their sexuality, only LGBTQ students face these physically and emotionally
draining experiences.
25

27. Returning Graduate Students
Returning students are more mature than the traditional graduate student. Their
reasons for returning to school vary from work demands, to
personal satisfaction, to having finally met family or economic
obligations that kept them from enrolling earlier. Regardless of
the motivation to return to school, it is common for returning
students to be more focused and aware of what they want out
of graduate school than their younger colleagues. Perhaps one of their biggest assets
is they are not intimidated by the prospects of engaging in discussions with faculty.
Yet older students who have been out of school for a number of years can fear
competing with their younger counterparts. They may see the younger students as
being more up-to-date on the current issues within their disciplines and as having
more computer experience. They often say that their real life experiences are
devalued in the classroom, contradicted by the research and theory they are studying.
Feelings of isolation sometimes affect returning students.
Because of the age differences between them and their peers,
many older students no longer want to be in the places where
younger students go to relax and socialize; that,
compounded with their feeling that some faculty are much more
comfortable with the younger students than with them, drives feelings of isolation.
Reaching out to older students shows your interest. Find out what they did before
they entered their graduate programs and how their life experiences might be relevant
to the classroom setting. Welcome and value the special contributions older students
make in class discussions.
26

28. Students with Working Class Backgrounds
Students from working-class backgrounds often do not have family members they can
turn to for monetary support through graduate school. In addition, some students have
the responsibility of financially supporting parents,
siblings, or other relatives. These graduate students are
aware they may not have or know how to develop
professional networks as effectively as their peers who
come from more advantaged backgrounds (especially those
who grew up within academic families). This disparity is
most visible when they attend conferences or when they
seek summer employment. These graduate students also see
a progressive disparity in what they and their more
advantaged peers can do during the summer. The latter,
because of their families’ financial assistance and their
enhanced access to professional networks, can more easily afford and secure
internships which provide them with further professional development. In contrast,
students from working-class backgrounds may need to work in better paying jobs
which are far removed from their graduate studies. Thus, students from working-class
backgrounds feel they are falling behind in their graduate careers by not having more
relevant job experiences over the summer. In addition, they fear some professors may
not understand their financial situations and mistakenly assume they are less seriously
involved in their academic work than more advantaged students.
Once assimilated into their disciplines, students can often find it is both more difficult
to talk to their families and old friends about their work and for families and friends
to understand their new endeavors. This communication gap can make students feel
like they are no longer able to live within their old worlds, but they are not yet
comfortable in their new worlds. Working class students generally want upward
mobility and want to take on a middle-class identity, but generally, they don't want to
27

29. jettison all of their working-class identity, relations, or values. For example,
working-class people value independence—being able to do tasks alone; they value
community—extended family and neighbors; they value frugality and are by
necessity recyclers and anti-consumerist; and they value respect for elders and
authority. This is neither to say that these qualities are always mainstay in working-
class families, nor is it to say they are absent in middle and upper class families, but
rather to point to strengths apparent in the working-class that might be valued as
maintainable aspects of personal history. Acknowledging and supporting these
strengths as viable tools with which to navigate the academy and beyond will go far
to encourage working-class students. Sharing these values with middle-class graduate
students might help them understand both their working-class classmates and the
values that they bring with them to the university.
If you make an extra effort to introduce these students to the people you know who
could be helpful to them, working class students will learn to build networks. Assist
them in expanding those networks. Not all students have the same academic networks
to draw on, so if you hear of funding opportunities, especially for the summer period,
pass this information on to your students, especially those you feel most need it.
28

30. Women Graduate Students
While traditionally females have been raised to be polite and soft-spoken, it is clear that
successful graduate students need to assert themselves in
classroom discussions. Many women say that they have
difficulties in speaking up in class. Too often, they find that
in order to say something in class, they have to interrupt
another student. Women often see interjecting themselves in
this manner as being rude and disrespectful. Some fear that
their lack of participation in discussions will be wrongly
interpreted as their not having any thoughts at all. On the
other hand, other women tell us that when they assert
themselves, they are subjected to criticism in a way that men are not, even though it is the
same behavior.
Research has verified that many students, but especially women, can feel alienated by the
competitive and critical atmosphere that pervades many graduate programs. Women are
certainly capable of being critical of others’ work when they think it is appropriate, but
they think some students are being overly critical in order to appear intellectually
superior. Women, and other students, too often see that the system does not reward one
for praising the contributions of other scholars.
Reminding students that people interrupt not only to disagree or silence a bad idea, but
also to support or advance exciting new thoughts or ideas helps them see passionate
dialogue in a new way. Encouraging your mentees to join into even the most enthusiastic
discussions helps them feel confident about doing so. Of course, stopping aggressive
speaking behaviors also provides openings for less assertive participants.
29

31. Students with Disabilities
Obviously students with disabilities have different needs and concerns depending
upon the types of disability they have. For example, a student who is visually
impaired has needs different from a student who uses a wheelchair or a student with a
learning disability. Yet students’ needs also vary depending upon whether they have
had their disabilities since birth or whether their disabilities developed later in their
lives. In this section, we try to deal with issues confronting those students with
physical disabilities, those with learning disabilities (such as attention deficit disorder
and dyslexia) and those with psychological illnesses
(such as depression and bipolar disorder).
Students with disabilities often fear that they may
appear to be too dependent—or become too
dependent—if they ask for help. This is especially true for those who have
experienced a fairly recent onset of a disability and are unaccustomed to asking for
help, as well as for those who have disabilities that are invisible to others, such as
individuals with learning disabilities or chronic psychological illness.
For those with physical and learning disabilities, meeting the basic requirements
demands much more time and energy than it does for students without disabilities.
Some students find they cannot participate in certain professional activities (such as
submitting papers for conferences) as much as they would like because they need to
devote all their time and energy to meeting the deadlines of their programs.
Changes in reading assignments can be very difficult for students who are visually
impaired. At the beginning of the semester, students who are blind or severely
visually impaired have their readings converted into Braille. Any readings added on
at a later date mean they need to make special emergency trips to have these new
materials translated in a short period of time. Changes in room locations are also a
hardship for visually and physically challenged students.
30

32. Like LGBTQ students, these students are sometimes invisible. Try suggesting that
anyone with special needs speak to you as soon as possible about what those needs
are. Don’t hesitate to ask students with physical disabilities if they need assistance,
but don’t force your help upon them. Offering to aid someone is much different from
assuming he or she is incapable of performing a task. Keeping these challenges in
mind as you work with these students will make them feel welcome in the
complicated world of graduate school.
31

33. Graduate Students with
Family Responsibilities
Students with parenting responsibilities are
committed to being successful graduate
students and feel they can succeed by being highly
organized and intensely focused during the blocks
of time they carve out for their studies.
Unfortunately, these students often feel that some professors and students perceive
them as lacking in commitment to their fields because of other priorities in their lives.
This situation is exacerbated when an emergency makes it impossible for them to
attend classes or meetings.
Students with family responsibilities typically need to be home in the evenings to
tend to those in their care. Difficulties can emerge in a group project since commonly
other students find the evenings the best time to meet. In addition, it is often difficult
for students with parenting responsibilities to come back to campus for evening
lectures or departmental meetings. As a result, students who cannot attend social,
academic, and professional functions can feel isolated from others in their cohort and
from their departments as a whole.
Planning a departmental social event where it would be appropriate for students,
faculty, and staff to bring their children along encourages students with these extra
responsibilities. For these events, make sure you pick a time of day when families can
attend, and, of course, be sure the invitation specifically states that children are
welcome.
32

34. Underrepresented Minority Graduate
Students
Students of color speak passionately about many
issues, most of which are covered in the section
entitled “Common Themes Across Groups.” Among
these issues, the one most often cited was their lack of
role models. The few faculty of color at the university
level reduces their chances of finding someone in
their fields who “looks like them.”
Likewise, low numbers of faculty of color convey the message that the academy
remains an unwelcoming environment for many who are not white. Many
underrepresented students, especially African American and Latino students,
sometimes feel other students and faculty assume they are less qualified to be in
graduate school. On the other hand, Asian American students are burdened by the
“model minority” myth, which assumes they are exemplary students particularly in
math and science. Stereotyping in either direction has negative consequences for
students of color.
Sometimes, underrepresented students are, or
feel, overlooked for Graduate Student
Instructor and Graduate Student Research
Assistant appointments. As a result, these
students have fewer opportunities to interact
with faculty or to experience the formal and informal mentoring that occurs for
student instructors or research assistants. They also miss the teaching and research
experiences that strengthen their graduate work and their curricula vitae.
Different underrepresented groups face different issues and experiences from other
groups, yet we should not assume that all students from one group will share the same
thoughts and perspectives. Economic and geographic origin play an important role in
33

35. shaping people’s behaviors and attitudes. We can help erase stereotypes by refusing
to engage in classing students of color in stereotypical ways and instead recognizing
each student’s unique strengths and scholarly promise. Thinking about our own
socializations and making efforts to increase our awareness will help eliminate
casting students into large groups.
34

36. • Mentoring Issues Facing Underrepresented Faculty
Although this may not be an exhaustive list, we include this
information so that you can be aware of some of the faculty
issues as well. If you find yourself here, we hope you take
some comfort in knowing that the Graduate Division is
working to help alleviate the beliefs and practices that
contribute to these conditions. If the following situations do
not apply to you, please understand that many of your
colleagues face these real and persistent challenges on a
daily basis. We have likewise included a section like this in
the mentee’s handbook so that they will understand the special stresses of
underrepresented faculty.
Minority and women faculty often mentor a higher number of graduate students than
their peers. Students seek them out not only because of their research and professional
interests, but also because of their gender or race. As the number of women faculty
and faculty of color remains low, these few faculty attract many students. In contrast
to this problem, faculty of color, female faculty and LGBT faculty are aware that
some graduate students do not select them as mentors because of their marginalized
positions in the academy. Graduate students perceive that these faculty wield less
power and influence inside and outside their departments. Historically marginalized
faculty are therefore seen as being less effective in providing the types of
instrumental assistance graduate students need. Sometimes, graduate students seek
them out for their counsel but hesitate to use them on committees because of their
perceived lower status in the academic community. This puts the extra time
commitment of helping graduate students onto faculty who receive no credit for
mentoring dissertations or other work.
35

37. Women faculty can feel that some students expect them to be more nurturing and
emotionally supportive than their male counterparts. Junior faculty are in an
especially difficult situation because excessive time spent in mentoring jeopardizes
the amount of time they have to carry on the work needed for promotion. The results
are dichotomized with women ending up at each end of the spectrum: some comply
with these expectations until they have no time for their own work; others, in an
attempt to protect their research time, establish such firm boundaries that they seem
detached and emotionally unavailable to students.
Some women professors and faculty of color feel that some students question their
legitimacy as professors because of their race or gender. These faculty state that
students challenge their authority in the classroom and generally do not accord them
the same level of respect that they give to other faculty.
Forming faculty mentoring groups that encourage and support each other helps
minimize the isolation that often accompanies such frustrations as accompany these
often unfair situations. These faculty mentoring group members can find
opportunities both within and outside the University to highlight the academic work
and mentoring skills of a faculty member who is undervalued in your department.
36

38. Wrapping It Up
Certainly, mentors won’t encounter all of the problems presented in the pages above, and
certainly not every person from the groups we have discussed feels the same way about
all of these issues. We are all products of our environments; we are each unique, but we
hope that those issues we have pointed to will help mentors understand as legitimate
those feelings and positions described here.
While it may seem that we make accommodations for underrepresented and non-
traditional students, let us remember that the original scholar had his accommodations
built into the academic system as it developed. It was a program created to serve a certain
select sector of the public. We condone neither lowering academic standards nor offering
special favors; rather, now we work to expand the service area of the university to
accommodate the vast array of students who have opportunities that only a few once
enjoyed.
Effective mentoring is good for mentors, good for students, and good for the discipline.
You’re probably already doing much of what’s been discussed in the preceding sections:
supporting your students in their challenges as well as their successes, assisting their
navigation of the unfamiliar waters of a doctoral program, and providing a model of
commitment, productivity and professional responsibility. During the graduate
experience, students are guided toward becoming independent creators of knowledge or
users of research, prepared to be colleagues with their mentors as they complete the
degree program and move on to the next phase of professional life.
37

39. We have much to learn from our own faculty and students here at UCR. We want to
encourage ongoing conversation about mentoring and diversity issues within the
Graduate School, and we welcome your participation in that discussion. Feel free to
contact Kim Palmore, Director, Professional Development by phone at 951-683-6113 or
by email at kim.palmore@ucr.edu with any comments and suggestions you have.
38

40. Graduate Division Contacts
Graduate Division
100 University Office Building
951-827-4302
Joseph W. Childers
Graduate Dean
graddean@ucr.edu
Ken Baerenklau
Associate Dean, Graduate Academic Affairs
Responsibilities include petitions, employment, grievances, academic integrity and
professional development. ken.baerenklau@ucr.edu
Leah Haimo
Associate Dean, Recruitment and Outreach
Responsibilities include graduate student recruitment and outreach, supervision of
UCLEADS and AGEP programs.
leah.haimo@ucr.edu
Bette Quinn
Assistant Dean
Chief staff officer, budget control (graduate student financial aid and departmental
budget)
bette.quinn@ucr.edu
Virginia Bustamante
Graduate Council Coordinator
Manages administrative matters of the Graduate Council that include graduate program
reviews, new graduate program proposals, graduate program changes, catalog copy and
course proposals
virginia.bustamante@ucr.edu
Accounting Assistant
Processes staff employment, payroll—all departmental accounting functions.
39

41. Yung Phung
Senior Administrative Analyst
Graduate Support Management Manages fellowship budgets and works with programs to
provide financial reporting and data analysis relating to fellowships and recruiting
yung.phung@ucr.edu
· Academic Affairs140 University Office Building
951-827-3315
The Academic Affairs section of the Graduate Division is the unit within the Graduate
Dean’s Office that handles all matters pertaining to the academic record, employment,
and fellowships of graduate students. We work closely with the Graduate Advisers and
Graduate Program Assistants on problems that may arise in these areas with their
graduate students helping them to interpret the rules and regulations of the Office of the
President, Academic Senate, and Graduate Council. The division also approves all
student petition, dissertation, thesis, and qualifying exam committees for the Dean,
approves all advancement paperwork and all theses and dissertations. Additionally, we
provide the certificate of completion of all degree requirements. If the student needs
assistance in finding financial support this office provides help.
Linda G. Scott
Director
Oversees all matters relating to graduate academic affairs, employment and TADP
gdivls@ucr.edu
Kim Palmore
Director, Professional Development
Oversees the Graduate Mentoring Program
Kim.palmore@ucr.edu
Karen Smith
Administrative Analyst
Oversees graduate student employment and fellowships; processes petitions for leaves,
Withdrawals, half-time status and ESL issues
karen.smith@ucr.edu
Kara Oswood
Administrative Analyst
Responsible for degree progression issues and petitions, including committee approval,
advancement to candidacy, dissertation/thesis formatting, and graduation
kara.oswood@ucr.edu
40

42. · Academic Preparation and Outreach
Academic Preparation and Outreach is a vital component of the Graduate Division (and
the campus as a whole) and strives to diversify and increase our graduate student
population by facilitating the recruitment and retention of highly qualified students in
UCR's 45 graduate programs.
Maria Franco-Aguilar
Director
Conducts graduate student outreach and recruitment activities. Coordinates diversity
fellowship competitions, Mentoring Summer Research Internship Program, UC LEADS
and AGEP. Assists in development of special projects and grant proposals pertinent to
graduate student recruitment.
maria.franco-aguilar@ucr.edu
41

43. Works Cited and Consulted
Mentors Peer Resources. Peer Resources-Learn About Mentoring. [On-line] http: www.
mentors. ca/learnmentor.html
“Graduate Student Peer Mentoring Handbook.” Graduate Student Senate. Washington
University. Missouri. 2002.
Hesli, V., Fink, E., Duffy, D. (2003, July). Mentoring in a positive graduate student
experience: Survey results from the Midwest region, Part I. PS: Political Science
and Politics, 36(3), 457
“How to Mentor Graduate Students: A Guide for Faculty” Rackham Graduate School.
University of Michigan. <http://www.rackham.umich.edu/
StudentInfo/Publications>.ac
King, M. F. (2003). On the Right Track : A Manual for Research Mentors. Washington,
DC: Council of Graduate Schools.
Lee, A., Dennis, C., & Campbell, P. (2007). “Nature’s Guide for Mentors.” Nature, 447,
791-797.
“Mentoring Handbook for Students.” UNL Graduate Studies. www.unl.edu/gradstudies/
current/dev/mentoring/
Murrell, A. J., Crosby, F. J., & Ely, R. (Eds.). (1999). Mentoring Dilemmas:
Developmental Relationships within Multicultural Organizations. Mahwah, NJ:
Erlbaum.
National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of
Medicine. (1997).
Nerad, M. (1992) Using time, money and human resources efficiently and effectively in the
case of women graduate students. Paper prepared for the conference proceedings of
Science and Engineering Programs: On Target for Women (March, 1992).
Nerad, M. & Stewart, C.L. (1991) Assessing doctoral student experience: Gender and
department culture. Paper presented at the 31st Annual Conference of the Association
42

44. for Institutional Research San Francisco, CA, May 1991.Omatsu, Glenn.
Coordinator c/o Educational Opportunity Program (EOP). Peer Mentoring
Resource Booklet. California State University at Northridge.
<http://www.csun.edu/eop/ htdocs/peermentoring.pdf>.
Omatsu, Glenn. Coordinator c/o Educational Opportunity Program (EOP). Peer
Mentoring Resource Booklet. California State University at Northridge.
<http://www.csun.edu/eop/ htdocs/peermentoring.pdf>.
Paglis, L. L., Green, S. G. & Bauer, T. N. (2006, June). “Does Adviser Mentoring Add
Value? A Longitudinal Study of Mentoring and Doctoral Student Outcomes.”
Research in Higher Education, 47(4), 451-476.
Rose, G. L. (2005, February). “Group Differences in Graduate Students’ Concepts of the
Ideal Mentor.” Research in Higher Education, 46(1), 53 -80.
Scott, Elizabeth. “Build Friendships with Good Listening Skills.” Stress Management.
<http://stress.about.com/od/relationships/ht/howtolisten.htm>.
Tenenbaum, H. R., Crosby, F. J., & Gliner, M. D. (2001). “Mentoring Relationships in
Graduate School.” Journal of Vocational Behavior, 59, 326-341.
Trice, A.D. (1999). Graduate education at the University of Michigan: A foreign experience.
Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, Rackham School of Graduate Studies.
UCRiverside. Home page. <www.ucr.edu>.
43