Mentoring Matters: Recent Episodes
Stephanie Hansen and Mary Drewnoski
Mentoring graduate students is one of the most important things faculty do, but it's not always simple or easy. Join professors Stephanie Hansen and Mary Drewnoski as they share actionable tips to improve your mentoring prowess. Learned through the school of hard knocks, each episode contains information to help you build community, communication skills and encourage a curiosity for knowledge within your team.
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In this episode of Mentoring Matters, we explore the transformative potential of generative AI tools like ChatGPT in the context of graduate student mentoring. As these cutting-edge technologies continue to advance, they offer unique opportunities to enhance the mentoring experience and support the growth and development of graduate students.
We delve into the various ways in which ChatGPT and similar tools can be leveraged to provide personalized guidance, facilitate knowledge sharing, and foster meaningful interactions between mentors and mentees. From generating ideas for research projects to offering constructive feedback on written work, these AI-powered assistants have the potential to streamline and enrich the mentoring process.
However, we also address the challenges and ethical considerations surrounding the use of generative AI in mentoring, emphasizing the importance of maintaining human connection and judgment. Join us as we navigate this exciting frontier and discuss how to effectively integrate these tools while preserving the essence of authentic mentorship.
Whether you're a mentor, mentee, or simply interested in the future of graduate education, this episode offers valuable insights into the role of generative AI in shaping the mentoring landscape.
PS- Steph did convince Mary to get on the AI bandwagon, and she's now a happy user of ChatGPT. Steph's pro tip: Just talk to it like a colleague and you'll be surprised how easily the conversation flows.
If you are enjoying this podcast please leave a rating or review, and join us over on Twitter to let us know what topics you'd like to hear more about.
You can also join the conversation on our LinkedIn group page The Graduate Mentoring Blueprint
In this (long awaited) episode of Mentoring Matters we discuss how to get our students started off strong at the beginning of the semester. Things we discussed include:
- How much Steph loves to plan
- Setting goals and milestones for your students AND helping them understand your purpose behind the plan
Enjoy!
If you are enjoying this podcast please leave a rating or review, and join us over on Twitter to let us know what topics you'd like to hear more about.
You can also join the conversation on our LinkedIn group page The Graduate Mentoring Blueprint
Dr. Jodi McGill (Assistant Dean of Research and Graduate Students at Iowa State University's College of Veterinary Medicine) joined us to discuss what we learned in our last grad faculty book club. We read the book "Wellbeing at Work" by Jim Clifton and Jim Harter, which is from Gallup and CliftonStrengths-based. The book focuses on 5 pillars of wellbeing, a topic we've been very interested in lately.
Some takeaways from this episode:
- Faculty need to thrive themselves before they can help students thrive
- Encouraging grad students to be comfortable enough to share their struggles
- Everyone is different, and there are aspects that support wellbeing that may look different between students
- How important it is to model work/life balance and the value we as faculty place on wellbeing
If you are enjoying this podcast please leave a rating or review, and join us over on Twitter to let us know what topics you'd like to hear more about.
You can also join the conversation on our LinkedIn group page The Graduate Mentoring Blueprint
Time management can be a struggle for graduate students and faculty. In this episode we offer tips to make more efficient use of your time, with the goal of reducing everyone's stress.
We discussed:
- Scheduling "the big rocks" (e.g. the important, big items) first and putting the "sand" around them (e.g. the smaller, urgent things)
- Understanding how much stuff you can really put on your plate, and ways to say "No"
- Calendar management tips
- Being realistic with when you work the best and why this might be different for you and your students
- The necessity of reflection to find what's working and what's not
- Not losing sight of the important/mission serving pieces when the fires (e.g. emails) are such an easy distraction
- Being intentional with how we spend our time
Join us in our LinkedIn Group for more conversation!
The Graduate Mentorship Blueprint: a faculty forum
If you are enjoying this podcast please leave a rating or review, and join us over on Twitter to let us know what topics you'd like to hear more about.
In this episode we take you on a behind the scenes journey to hear about our graduate student interactions over a random week.
Things we discussed:
- Being intentional with our time
- Planning ahead to reduce the student's stress (and ours!!)
- Helping students prepare for job interviews
- Preparing for student presentations
- And that pesky fact that we do these mentoring things in addition to the rest of our faculty responsibilities!
- It takes constant contact to build a strong relationship with our students, which allows for deeper, more meaningful communication.
We hope you found this snapshot of our weeks useful as you consider your own mentoring strategies.
If you are enjoying this podcast please leave a rating or review, and join us over on Twitter to let us know what topics you'd like to hear more about.
In this episode we share ideas for improving resiliency in our graduate students. Topics covered include:
- Angela Duckworth's book "Grit" and Liz Wiseman's "Impact Players" are two resources we discuss and recommend
- Passion is a part of resiliency, we discuss ways to foster passion in our students
- Deliberate practice: we suggest ways to pressure test our students to build those skills they need later in the defense, etc.
- We discuss how we identify the impact players on our teams and how we help develop others into impact players (ex. helping them maintaining ownership of a situation when it gets tough)
- Balancing building resiliency without causing damage to a student's confidence (and how personality/strengths assessments can help)
If you are enjoying this podcast please leave a rating or review, and join us over on Twitter to let us know what topics you'd like to hear more about.
In this episode we discuss how we've used book clubs with our graduate students to enhance community and habit building.
- Mary talks about reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey and Steph talks about reading Atomic Habits by James Clear.
- We discuss what worked, what we'd do differently next time, and what the students thought of it (because Mary did a survey!)
Other topics include thinking about mentoring strategies with a big ROI and the importance of relationships. Plus we really want to encourage you to go listen to our Team Culture episode! It is so important!
If you are enjoying this podcast please leave a rating or review, and join us over on Twitter to let us know what topics you'd like to hear more about.
In this episode: Steph and Mary are on vacation! And nerding out about how we use the Clifton Strengths talent assessment in our graduate student mentoring. Similar to how we use Meyers Briggs Type Indicator, Strengths is another way to help us tailor the mentoring experience to get the most out of every student (in the least stressful way!)
We discussed:
- What Clifton Strengths is (and what it isn't)
- How using Clifton Strengths has increased our self-awareness, helping us understand ourselves better, so we can be more strategic about how we find energy.
- Insights we've gained from using Strengths with our students for a little over a year now.
- Using Strengths as a common vocabulary to have difficult conversations with our students about topics such as wellbeing.
- So much more! This is a good one, folks.
Steph is in the final stages of becoming a Certified Clifton Strengths Coach.
Learn more about Clifton Strengths here.
If you are enjoying this podcast please leave a rating or review, and join us over on Twitter to let us know what topics you'd like to hear more about.
In this episode we discuss what a powerful tool recognition of individual and team success can be, including:
- Why it's important to ask your team members how they want to be recognized.
- Reinforcing the idea that your team is not necessarily just like you!
- Mary and Steph are super different in how they want to be recognized! (Shocking no one that knows us IRL).
- Novices grow more in response to positive praise-how do we balance the critiques we give them with specific and meaningful praise to support their growth?
- We mentioned Mellody Hobson's interview with Adam Grant on his podcast
If you are enjoying this podcast please leave a rating or review, and join us over on Twitter to let us know what topics you'd like to hear more about.
In this episode we discuss how reflection helps our graduate students learn and grow. We talk about some of the strategies we are already using to cause students to pause and reflect and ways we want to try in the future.
What- Recapping the experience
So what- Why does it matter?
Now what- What's next? What do we do differently next time?
We also decided this was just one more example of using powerful questions in our graduate student mentoring. Prior episodes that might be useful here: Quit bossing, start coaching and Phrases to use in your grad mentoring
If you are enjoying this podcast please leave a rating or review, and join us over on Twitter to let us know what topics you'd like to hear more about.
Attending conferences can be a great way to entice a student to finish a project and share their data. But how do we help students get the most out of an often very expensive conference attendance?
In this episode we reminisce about some of our favorite conference moments and discussed:
- Helping introverted students practice networking tools
- Helping students know their "pitch"
- Setting expectations of students for conferences in terms of behavior, networking, and learning new science
- Using the social nature of conferences to get to know your students better
For tips on preparing students to present at conferences check out episode # 5 Let's Talk: Tips to build effective oral communicators
Join the conversation on Twitter and share ideas you have for helping students get the most out of attending conferences!
And, if you loved it, please leave us a rating and review as that helps other faculty discover the show.
Hello Mentors!
In this episode we reflect on the value of taking time to prepare for our individual grad student meetings. We offer some strategies to find time in your busy schedule and discuss a checklist of items we like to cover in these individual meetings. It's hard to believe we have to schedule time to think about our students, but sometimes that is the reality, so check out the episode for tips to make the most of your homework time!
Follow us on Twitter and if you find the show helpful, please leave us a rating and review on your podcast platform to help others discover the show.
Retreat! Research retreat, that is!
In this episode we talked about the research retreat Steph did with her lab recently. We talk about what went well, what she'd do differently, and Mary offered up lots of ideas for what she'd like to do at her own lab retreat.
Key points we discussed:
- Planning ahead and how to get the most out of your introverted team members.
- The importance of following up with advancements made during the retreat.
- How we're always learning new things about our team members, even after spending several years with some of them!
Follow us on Twitter and if you find the show helpful, please leave us a rating and review on your podcast platform to help others discover the show.
In this episode we discuss the traits we've appreciated in our best bosses, and why those bosses might have actually been our best coaches. We talk about tips for figuring out how to be a better boss/coach for our team.
Highlights:
We don't want a boss, we want a coach.
We want a purpose, and we'd like it to align with our values.
Recognition is important (stay tuned for a future episode on this topic!)
Leave us a comment on Twitter and be sure to subscribe or follow this podcast so you never miss an episode.2
In this episode, we discuss a few resources we’ve found useful for our own professional development. And how we use them with our grad students, of course!
Resources we discuss:
James Clear, Atomic habits, as interviewed by Brene Brown
https://brenebrown.com/podcast/atomic-habits-part-1-of-2/
Goals are about winning the game, and systems are about continuing to play the game. It is not about a single achievement; it is about endless refinement and continuous improvement.
Brene Brown, Dare to Lead (book, or podcast)
We’ve learned a lot from Brene in the last several months. This is one of Mary’s favorites.
https://brenebrown.com/podcast/braving-trust-part-1-of-2/
Clifton Strengths (Gallup)
One of Steph’s favorites. A variety of podcasts, articles and books are available.
Figure out your top strengths so you can adapt your processes to get more energy and productivity out of your life. Strengths can be a great tool for mentoring students as well.
We’ve leaned into Strengths to open discussions about well-being at work. Here are some great resources.
https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/357308/strengths-make-wellbeing-work.aspx
https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/355019/why-is-wellbeing-important.aspx
Your digital mentor podcast
Prof. Jeffrey McDonnell, author of “Navigating an Academic Career: A Brief Guide for PhD Students, Postdocs and Early Career Faculty” on writing skills.
Mary liked this one for the 1 hour work week concept in particular. But there are many great concepts in the episode and he points to a lot of other great resources.
https://soundcloud.com/user-105785173/writing-skills
Reach us on Twitter and let us know what mentoring lessons you learned in 2021! We'd also love to hear what questions you have about graduate student mentoring or suggestions for future episode topics!
In this episode we discuss the hard-fought mentoring lessons we have learned not only over the past year, but stretching back to early 2020. We talk about what has gone well and what we still need to work on in the coming year. And we decided being a good mentor comes down to intentionality and being willing to put in the time.
A few things lessons we discuss:
- Work/life balance and helping students embrace it
- Writing Sprints have been a game changer
- Helping students understand the "hidden curriculum" about their graduate program
- We talked about A Field Guide to Grad School
Reach us on Twitter and let us know what mentoring lessons you learned in 2021! We'd also love to hear what questions you have about graduate student mentoring or suggestions for future episode topics!
Emory University Professor Jen Heemstra joined us for a conversation about strategies for success as graduate student mentors. We also chatted about ideas for faculty development and ways we can foster strong mentors.
A few things we talked about:
- Fear of failure, why we as mentors should bring the same level of curiosity to our mentoring as we do to our science.
- Individualized development plans for students that have nothing to do with their research and everything to do with their career goals.
- Avoidable vs. unavoidable struggles and how to encourage resiliency in our teams.
- Structure, structure, structure. Did we mention, structure?
Jen and Steph bonded over sharing our personal writing journey with our students (and Jen's stoked to try writing sprints with her group!) Jen’s writing a book, so look for that in 2023! Steph published a fiction novel in 2021. Steph’s author world is at www.slhansenbooks.com
You can follow Jen and her lab on Twitter:
@heemstralab
@jenheemstra
If you are enjoying Mentoring Matters be sure to subscribe and leave us a review. And come on over and follow us on Twitter to join the conversation on mentoring!
In this episode we interview one of our own teaching mentors, Dr. Jan Wiersema of Iowa State University.
We explore how using type indicators (sometimes called personality assessments) like Myers Briggs can help faculty understand their students on a deeper level, allowing them to tailor a mentoring approach to better connect with the student.
Dr. Jan has a background in K-12 and college education and we get into some great conversation on grit as well.
Reach us on Twitter to join the conversation!
We'd love to hear what questions you have about graduate student mentoring or suggestions for future episode topics!
And if you liked what you heard leave a review on your podcast platform of choice!
Welcome to Season 2! We are excited to be back after our summer hiatus.
In this episode we discuss 10 phrases we find useful to have in your pocket when mentoring graduate students.
Among others, we talk about the importance of seeking to understand why certain actions may or may not have occurred.
Reach us on Twitter to join the conversation!
We'd love to hear what questions you have about graduate student mentoring or suggestions for future episode topics!
And if you liked what you heard leave a review on your podcast platform of choice!
In this episode we cover our top ten tips for things we wish we'd known when we started mentoring graduate students. Have a listen to learn why our number one tip was to keep your mouth shut!
Our tips cover the things we've learned in the trenches during a collective 21 years of graduate student mentoring. You might be surprised to learn many of our tips are about our personal mentality when it comes to mentoring. Some of these are things that have taken us a long time to learn (and we're not afraid to say we are still mastering many of them).
Reach us on Twitter to join the conversation!
We'd love to hear what questions you have about graduate student mentoring or suggestions for future episode topics!
And if you liked what you heard leave a review on your podcast platform of choice!
In this episode of Mentoring Matters we discuss how to help your graduate students plan for the end. Of their graduate program that is.
We cover things we've done (or wish we had done) to help graduate students plan for and execute an excellent final thesis and even discuss some tips for preparing for the defense.
1) Starting in their penultimate semester, work with the student to lay out a series of deadlines that breaks that big, scary thesis into manageable chunks (for you and the student!)
2) Assume something is going to derail #1, and leave yourself a cushion of time at the end to catch up on any bits of writing not quite completed.
3) How to help your students catch "finishing energy"
4) Helping students with the job search.
Reach us on Twitter to join the conversation!
We'd love to hear what questions you have about graduate student mentoring or suggestions for future episode topics!
And if you liked what you heard leave a review on your podcast platform of choice!
In this episode of Mentoring Matters we share our tips for helping graduate students become awesome oral communicators.
Don't forget to give them opportunity to practice! Provide low stress opportunities to present such as giving presentations to your lab group.
Have discussions about core concepts of effective communication.
1) Always consider the audience, build from their knowledge. Meet them where they are at.
Ask yourself what you want the audience to do with the information you are providing.
2) Start with the big picture! Help the audience see why it matters.
3) Keep it simple-no more than three main points. Don’t include everything just because you can.
4) Break down a big story into bite-sized pieces so that audience can take it in.
5) Focus on the story, walk the audience through your thought process and why you did the work.
6) Use visual aids to supplement what is being verbally articulated. Make sure visuals don’t distract the audience.
Have lab members provide feedback to help them think critically about what effective communication looks like. Consider having the student also do a self-assessment. Then have a discussion after the presentation on what worked and what could be better.
A great book to get one thinking about effective science communication is Alan Alda’s book titled “If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look On My Face?”
Reach us on Twitter to join the conversation!
We'd love to hear what questions you have about graduate student mentoring or suggestions for future episode topics!
And if you liked what you heard leave a review on your podcast platform of choice!
In this episode we discuss one of our favorite subjects, how to build community within your graduate student team.
Things we talk about include:
- Setting expectations from day one to help students understand the importance of teamwork
- Creating group challenges with fun rewards to drive productivity and team building
- Praising teamwork when it happens
- My Life in a Paper Bag team learning exercise
One resource Mary talks about is a chemistry professor she follows on Twitter who often has great mentoring advice. She's Jen Heemstra. https://twitter.com/jenheemstra
Reach us on Twitter to join the conversation!
We'd love to hear what questions you have about graduate student mentoring or suggestions for future episode topics!
And if you liked what you heard leave a review on your podcast platform of choice!
In this episode, we tackle a topic that can strike fear in the heart of even the best mentor—how to develop students into strong technical writers.
In this episode we discuss tips for making the writing process manageable:
- Get them started early
- Break writing up into small sections
- Ask them to develop an outline for each section before they start writing it then meet and have them talk though the main points for the section
- Provide feedback on sections so they are able to learn and progress throughout the process
- Make sure that you point out what they did right as well as what needs to be improved
Resources mentioned that can be adapted to assist your students in their writing journey
Guidelines for writing a literature review by Helen Mongan-Rallis http://www.duluth.umn.edu/~hrallis/guides/researching/litreview.html.
Writing a Scientific Paper. Adapted from Cox (1990) https://www.luther.edu/biology/assets/writing_scientific_papers_2.pdf
We want to hear from you!
The question of the week is: How do you help your students become strong technical writers? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
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Clear communication is key to success when working with graduate students. Articulating expectations at the start will pay dividends in the long run!
In this episode we discuss how to:
- Clearly communicate what you expect from your students, begin this during the interview. They should know what they are getting into...
- Consider using a mutual expectations document to ensure you hit the important points and everyone is on the same page.
- Take time early to work with and provide guidance to your students to get them engaged and develop productive habits.
We want to hear from you!
The question of the week is: How do you clearly communicate expectations with your graduate students?
Reach us on Twitter to join the conversation!
We'd love to hear what questions you have about graduate student mentoring or suggestions for future episode topics!
And if you liked what you heard leave a review on your podcast platform of choice!
In the inaugural episode of Mentoring Matters we talk about the one mentoring strategy that has had the single biggest impact on our graduate programs.
We are Steph and Mary, best friends and professors in animal science who have spent years trying out ways to become better graduate student mentors. We've made the mistakes, so you don't have to!
In this episode we discuss the benefits of regularly scheduled meetings with graduate students and how such a simple trick revolutionized our programs. We both agree these meetings with our students are time well spent.
We want to hear from you! The question of the week is: what is the single best thing you’ve done to improve your graduate student mentoring?
Reach us on Twitter
We'd love to hear what questions you have about graduate student mentoring or suggestions for future episode topics!
And if you liked what you heard leave a review on your podcast platform of choice!