A Mentee and his Mentor Speak their Minds

Abstract:

An academic mentoring relationship can develop organically from joint experiences as a student-teacher team involved in undergraduate research projects. The mentor rarely has been trained for this role, and the mentee may not have actively searched for a mentor at first. Once the relationship is recognized the mentor may struggle with conflicting roles, aspects of fairness to other students, recognizing what is best for the mentee (and allowing them to figure something out on their own rather than imposing a viewpoint), and questioning the value of advice because of differences in age, culture, and own career path. The mentee does not want to disappoint, can feel ashamed to ask questions (sometimes more than once), may not want to share their own opinion - let alone challenge their mentor! - and may also be afraid that they rely to much on their mentor rather than searching for answers on their own. Both parties thus face similar challenges but from different perspectives. In our opinion a good mentoring relationship is built on honesty and respect as well as mutual trust where we can point out strengths or weaknesses in one another and recognize our vulnerabilities. Our conversations have touched on many aspects of our lives (including academic, home, soft skills, and personal development). We have asked questions neither of us could answer at first but which challenged each other for further learning. Our experience has resulted in a two-way support, revealed new points of view, and allowed for development of leadership skills for both. In this presentation we will report on our journey so far, assumptions we brought along, expectations we shared, and challenges we have faced individually or together. By sharing the perceptions of both parties in our unique mentorship relationship we want to help define best mentoring practices.