A Graduate Student Guide: Making the Most of Mentoring

Here is a doorway through which readers will sneak a peak at the academy-its exterior and interior spaces. There is much within the academic environment that can invite entry or obstruct movement. With this text, doors have been opened for novice scholars and new faculty, as well as experienced academicians and administrators. Each chapter has an aperture on vital mentoring issues (such as productive learning within groups, developing effective marketing and networking strategies, and creating successful student-centered programs) that, together, provides a broader perspective on the professoriate. Readers are guided through the process of becoming successfully mentored, largely by entering into viable relationships and learning the art of receiving and giving. The various mentoring formats described provide exposure to a wide range of options that readers can mindfully act upon; these also demonstrate the value of learning within one-to-one systems and group contexts. Finally, readers are given access to guarded secrets about graduate school, not only concerning unspoken norms but also the 'hidden curriculum' of the academy and of mentor's expectations. The mentoring concepts and practices narrated have all been tested in real-life settings. Further, the chapters' case scenarios and analyses are supported with data collected from multiple sources_documents, surveys, and interviews_including the Writers in Training (WIT), a long-standing doctoral cohort. Dozens of graduate students in education in particular, as well as faculty and administrators have contributed to this work.