HOW TO MAKE MENTORS MATTER IN THE SCIENCES

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HOW TO MAKE MENTORS MATTER IN THE SCIENCES
29 January 2006 - University of Wisconsin-Madison

The sentiment is not without some truth in the challenging world of research science, where an advisor's ability to step in as an encouraging mentor is sometimes the one thing that keeps a student going.

A growing body of literature demonstrates that good mentors can be integral to boosting student productivity, raising the quality of training and attracting and retaining underrepresented students in science. But most researchers are still learning to become effective mentors on their own, often after years of trial and error.

To help ease that process, scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison developed the Wisconsin Mentoring Seminar, an 8-week course that invites postdoctoral and graduate researchers to come together for an hour each week to discuss mentoring strategies and problems, communication skills, issues of human diversity and personal mentoring experiences.

"The idea is to work with future faculty to train them to become the next generation of really excellent mentors and teachers," says Christine Pfund, co-director of UW-Madison's Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching, which developed the seminar alongside an accompanying training manual entitled "Entering Mentoring." "Because graduate and postdoctoral students often serve as primary mentors for undergraduate students, we targeted our efforts there."

In the last two years, the mentoring seminar has run more than 22 times at 11 educational institutions around the country. In this week's issue of the journal Science, lead author Pfund describes the initiative and ongoing efforts to quantitatively evaluate the seminar's impact on participants and the undergraduates they mentor.

"Because we're promoting good scientific teaching, it's important for us to apply the rigor of research to teaching and learning as well,' says Pfund, who is also associate director of UW-Madison's Delta Program in Research, Teaching and Learning.

What sets the UW-Madison seminar apart is its immediate, real-time nature, says senior author Jo Handelsman, a professor of plant pathology and the director of the WPST. More than simply reading a book or article, the seminar "is a dynamic process of sharing ideas, problem solving, acquiring knowledge, and applying that knowledge immediately," says Handelsman, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute professor.

Here at UW-Madison, the seminar has thrived through fruitful collaborations between the WPST and campus initiatives such as the Summer Research Opportunities Program for Undergraduates and the Wisconsin Alliance for Minority Participation. Pfund, Handelsman and co-author Sarah Miller Lauffer also plan to complement their mentor-training activities with a similar seminar devoted to good teaching, to help graduate students improve their skills in the classroom.

Ultimately, Handelsman hopes that other graduate programs in the country will one day follow UW-Madison's lead in creating better teachers and mentors. "I believe learning to teach and mentor students should be as routine in graduate education as learning to give a good seminar," she says. "Training graduate students only in research is like training pianists to play with their right hand and telling them to figure out the left on their own - after they start giving concerts."

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About: University of Wisconsin-Madison
In achievement and prestige, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has long been recognized as one of America’s great universities. A public, land-grant institution, UW-Madison offers a complete spectrum of liberal arts studies, professional programs and student activities. Many of its programs are hailed as world leaders in instruction, research and public service.

The university traces its roots to a clause in the Wisconsin Constitution, which decreed that the state should have a prominent public university. In 1848, Nelson Dewey, Wisconsin’s first governor, signed the act that formally created the university, and its first class, with 17 students, met in a Madison school building on February 5, 1849.

From those humble beginnings, the university has grown into a large, diverse community, with about 40,000 students enrolled each year. These students represent every state in the nation, as well as countries from around the globe, making for a truly international population.

UW-Madison is the oldest and largest campus in the University of Wisconsin System, a statewide network of 13 comprehensive universities, 13 freshman-sophomore transfer colleges and an extension service. One of two doctorate-granting universities in the system, UW-Madison’s specific mission is to provide "a learning environment in which faculty, staff and students can discover, examine critically, preserve and transmit the knowledge, wisdom and values that will help insure the survival of this and future generations and improve the quality of life for all."

The university achieves these ends through innovative programs of research, teaching and public service. Throughout its history, UW-Madison has sought to bring the power of learning into the daily lives of its students through innovations such as residential learning communities and service-learning opportunities. Students also participate freely in research, which has led to life-improving inventions from more fuel-efficient engines to cutting-edge genetic therapies.

Students, faculty and staff are motivated by a tradition known as the "Wisconsin Idea," described by UW President Charles Van Hise in 1904 as the compelling need to carry "the beneficent influence of the university ... to every home in the state." The Wisconsin Idea permeates the university’s work and helps forge close working relationships among university faculty and students and the state’s industries and government.

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