Student Mentorship
I’m experienced as a mentee. Over the course of my graduate studies, I had five different primary advisors (and many additional faculty and senior students) who exposed me to many different mentoring styles. I am also experienced as a mentor. I have mentored many students as an adjunct instructor, lab manager, and graduate research assistant (see examples below). In my current research support role at the TReNDS Center I have had the opportunity to serve in a primary mentor (i.e., senior author) role for three undergraduate research fellows. I have also served as an invited panelist twice for mentorship-related research discussions at TReNDS Center Research Day events (Fall 2025 and Spring 2026). I believe that mentorship looks different across labs, but there are some basic principles founded on mutual respect which I think are universally important.
While there are many great mentorship resources out there (for example, see some of the APA’s resources), here are some of the principles for building meaningful mentor-mentee connections which I value most:
- Communicate openly: frequency is key, especially at the start
- Inspire: help to create a vision or imagined possibility that generates excitement for the mentee
- Affirm, affirm, affirm: never assume that the mentee outgrows imposter syndrome
- Gently reshape and redirect unrealistic aspirations: sometimes creativity needs to abide the realities of an imperfect world
- Demystify the system: help students to navigate their new roles in professional settings by explaining how things work “behind the scenes”
Additionally, I would highlight the following lessons I’ve learned:
Mentorship takes time: There is no shortcut or substitute for time. I do my best to optimize my mentoring load so that I can serve as many students as I can realistically provide quality mentorship to.
Mentorship extends beyond immediate supervisors or advisors. I don’t want to downplay the great mentorship I received from my graduate advisors, but some of the best mentorship I received actually came from faculty other than my primary advisors. It’s important to seek out mentorship from a wide variety of sources, including other faculty in your department and from outside your department. When I was working on my Masters degree at NMSU I took a professional development class as an elective taught by Dr. Elba Serrano. That course was incredibly impactful and guided me through my graduate school journey.
Building mentor/mentee relationships is helpful when it comes time to form thesis and dissertation committees. It also facilitates collaboration and helps to open doors, it can even give you a place to go if things aren’t working out. I encourage students to connect with professors by taking classes outside their home department, volunteering in outreach, and participating in and attending local research events as often as they can.