Mentoring contract

Revisiting the contract can have multiple benefits for students. One of my students had transitioned from one lab project to another, and going over what she had written about her short- and long-term goals helped her realize how much progress she had made at a time when she was worried she wasn't accomplishing enough.

Reviewing the contract also provided her with an opportunity to revise what she had written to reflect her current short- and long-term goals. For example, the papers she'd read the past semester were giving her context for the lab work, but she still felt like she was not tuned into the rationale and some of the science behind the work. So going forward, some of the time she spends in the lab may be dedicated to reading, and meeting with me to chat about what she is gaining from the literature.

When one student first filled out the contract, she wrote that she wanted to be exposed to a variety of different lab techniques. Because I had a record of her wanting to branch out in the lab, I made an extra effort to try and connect her with a project my faculty adviser was setting up in the lab. In retrospect, having the contract helped me be more responsive to my mentee's goals and probably made me more proactive in helping her branch out to a project very different from the one she started on when she first joined the lab.

Mentoring plays a big role in the future composition of academic scientists. For example, students that have productive and positive experiences in labs as undergraduates and graduate students may be more likely to pursue careers in science. I have been wondering about the extent to which a static mentoring strategy unintentionally stifles diversity in academic science, therefore stifling a greater diversity in scientific ideas. As a prospective graduate student or post-doctoral researcher, we all receive advice to ask about what a faculty member's mentoring strategy is like. Are they hands-off? Hands-on? This, or that? It implies that faculty members will stick to a single strategy for all their students despite a potential wide range in what students require to succeed. A mentoring contract is an initial way for me to check myself as a mentor -- is the experience in the lab helping the student with their short- and long-term goals? Am I doing something unhelpful that I thought was helpful? Perhaps I could help a student make a connection to another faculty member that requires little effort on my part but would make all the difference to the student's career. My goal as a research mentor is to continue to challenge myself on the efficacy of my mentoring philosophy for diverse students.