The Role of Mentorship in Academic Success: Insights from Duke University (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: This is Duke University.

Speaker 2: A good mentor.

Speaker 3: It's not just me instructing or advising a student. It's us working in combination to figure out what the goals are, what the students' objectives are, what they want to accomplish.

Speaker 2: You have to send a signal that you're interested in what this person is engaged in and willing to think about that hard and offer feedback.

Speaker 4: I find in terms of guiding students through the process of doing their own research project, it's really individual.

Speaker 5: You have to understand who it is you're speaking to. You have to understand their needs, their strengths, what they need from you, what they don't need from you.

Speaker 6: I try to figure out what the student is trying to say that the student may or may not be saying directly and where the student is trying to go with it and then to articulate that in a way that makes sense. And then I say to the student, tell me if I'm getting this right or not.

Speaker 3: It's a delicate balance. It's like the same time you're trying to instruct and teach, you're also wanting the students for him or herself to stand out and take a lead and take some ownership of the work in the project.

Speaker 2: I really try and convey that it's their section. I want to hear what their ideas are, their plans are for how to attack this.

Speaker 4: I think in terms of being a role model, it develops over the course of the interactions. I'm a little bit aware and I try to make sure that I am doing what I ask them to do in their scientific approach and writing, etc. But I think most of it just comes natural. I'm there in the lab doing research almost every day, so they see me there. They see me working hard and doing data analysis, writing up and they're motivated to do the same.

Speaker 5: If you're someone who is quite active in the institution, that probably encourages others to be active in the institution too.

Speaker 6: If I'm in doubt about something I'm about to do, there are many things that run through my head and one of them is definitely, is this how I want to set an example. When I see first year students, what I focus on is how they're adjusting to the program, how bizarre it seems to them, the kind of feedback they're getting, how difficult it is for them to read things, how insecure they are about their status in the program and how all the other graduate students seem so much smarter than they are and all the things we go through when we're in a new program.

Speaker 1: We start out very unsure of ourselves, so I think at the beginning we do need a lot of encouragement and praise thrown in every so often.

Speaker 6: As they're approaching their portfolio defense or their dissertation defense, I talk about different things, but I'm still dealing with the underlying issue of how do you make someone feel confident and feel like they have the tools they need to succeed at the stage they are.

Speaker 3: So there's a transition and for different students it comes at different times, but they switch from becoming just someone who's following instructions and direction to a person who's now set in the direction that they want to follow and often bringing me along with them.

Speaker 1: It's kind of like having a baby learn to walk. You don't want to hold their hands the whole time because they'll never learn how to do it by themselves, so you really have to know when they're ready to take that first step by themselves.

Speaker 5: Sometimes going through graduate school can be demoralizing at certain moments. It can be boring at certain moments.

Speaker 6: When people have disappeared for a while or they've fallen off the radar, then I will send them a note asking if they're okay, and I'll encourage them. I'll say this is the very moment when you need most to be talking to your advisor and to your mentors to say what's going on and we might be able to help.

Speaker 2: That person has to trust you. You have to have a strong enough relationship so that the person can let you know when there's a problem.

Speaker 3: For their physical and mental health, I insist that students do other things other than the academics. I stress that with students all the time.

Speaker 5: I always say to students, don't put your life on hold while you're in graduate school.

Speaker 2: I stress the centrality of building networks. That's important within academia, but it's even more important outside of it.

Speaker 6: To go up to scholars that they admire and introduce themselves, for a lot of graduate students and for a lot of junior colleagues, this is really tricky. And I myself am a shy and reserved person, and I always found this a challenge. And so I tell them what I was told, which is that when you go up to a senior colleague, and this is how I experience it now myself, that colleague is so thrilled that anyone is still interested in their opinion about anything. And so I love having people come up to them and say, I really admire your work, or I love your work, or whatever. Whenever my students win any award or any recognition, I make sure the whole world knows.

Speaker 3: I even, at times, will contact a parent and say, hey, by the way, your child has won this award. But it's important to promote the student's work But it's important to promote the student's work and to let friends and colleagues in the profession know, I have this great student who's doing good things. Keep your eye out and be ready for this student in a year or two.