2017 MATC Scholars Program: Dr. Edgar Blevins
Larissa Sazama
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11/06/2017
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7
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Dr. Edgar Blevins, Professor at Southern University and A&M College, presents on "Choosing Faculty Mentors & Finding 'Mentoring Communities' for Academic Success. For more information, please visit http://matc.unl.edu/education/scholars-program2017.php.
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- [00:00:00.253]I am Dr. Edgar Blevins from Southern University
- [00:00:03.775]and I teach in mechanical engineering
- [00:00:06.508]and I'm involved in outreach things back in Baton Rouge.
- [00:00:09.927]And I've been a part of this program
- [00:00:12.052]I guess since we started it.
- [00:00:13.909]So I'm gonna talk to you guys a little about
- [00:00:15.394]faculty mentors and we'll bring in a little advisors
- [00:00:19.002]and talk about a few,
- [00:00:20.454]a few things that
- [00:00:23.218]come under both of those categories.
- [00:00:25.693]I have a hand out that I'm gonna share with you,
- [00:00:28.613]hopefully time for meeting.
- [00:00:30.279]And we're gonna see if we can do a few things real quickly.
- [00:00:34.907]All of us have seen, we're all using a standard
- [00:00:37.550]outline, so I'm gonna kind of walk
- [00:00:40.026]through this real quickly.
- [00:00:41.161]We're gonna go through and one of the key things
- [00:00:43.616]at the end we're gonna kind of
- [00:00:45.396]look at a few resources that are available
- [00:00:47.442]for mentees and mentors at other universities including UNL.
- [00:00:55.024]So we want to talk about, what is mentoring?
- [00:00:59.496]The benefits of it, finding that mentor.
- [00:01:02.559]What do you expect from that mentor,
- [00:01:04.447]the social environment that,
- [00:01:07.513]that goes along with mentoring.
- [00:01:09.587]Understanding the community, so there's some cases that
- [00:01:15.020]the community may need to be involved
- [00:01:16.815]and just that standard mentor that you think.
- [00:01:19.420]And we'll discuss those in a few.
- [00:01:23.708]How do you select that mentor?
- [00:01:25.948]We gain an appreciation for faculty mentors and advisors
- [00:01:29.133]to learn about those expectations.
- [00:01:32.184]We also know, what's your responsibilities
- [00:01:35.534]as being on the other side of that table?
- [00:01:37.876]And developing that community.
- [00:01:40.808]Here's something that I borrowed from,
- [00:01:43.297]I think this came from Dr. Howard Adams,
- [00:01:46.036]some of his resources.
- [00:01:47.625]And basically defining what is a mentor?
- [00:01:51.446]A mentor has a unique history it goes back
- [00:01:53.278]to the proper name Mentor, Greek mythology,
- [00:01:56.244]the Odyssey and it's from a poem
- [00:01:58.635]when king of Ithaca led his soldiers out
- [00:02:00.811]during the Trojan War.
- [00:02:02.441]He needed someone to look after his son for 10 years.
- [00:02:06.285]He wanted someone that could provide some
- [00:02:08.510]teaching, counseling, and advice
- [00:02:12.635]throughout that time period.
- [00:02:14.475]So that's where the term comes from,
- [00:02:17.807]back in the Greek mythology days.
- [00:02:21.148]What is it?
- [00:02:21.981]Enabling a one on one relationship.
- [00:02:24.956]So the key thing I like to highlight here
- [00:02:26.770]is the one on one relationship
- [00:02:29.452]that you should have and is recommended for graduate school.
- [00:02:34.786]And we're gonna talk a little about developing that
- [00:02:37.741]relationship and hopefully to help with coaching,
- [00:02:42.467]various advisement and nurturing and tutoring.
- [00:02:45.899]You know HBC news, excuse are known for mentoring
- [00:02:50.765]and nurturing, so we hope to
- [00:02:54.079]continue that when you move off
- [00:02:56.211]and on for your graduate studies.
- [00:03:00.137]Was does this mean to you?
- [00:03:01.782]I want you to make a list and we're gonna discuss
- [00:03:04.553]what you think falls on this list.
- [00:03:06.567]So I said that
- [00:03:08.949]they guide, they helped you kind of plan.
- [00:03:12.941]Well okay, well this makes sense or whatever,
- [00:03:14.704]give you advice, listening ear, lets you know
- [00:03:18.096]the different opportunities to make.
- [00:03:20.066]Okay, all right.
- [00:03:21.740]Okay, yes sir, go ahead.
- [00:03:23.780]That they're there to challenge and motivate you.
- [00:03:27.176]Well because they already been through your shoes.
- [00:03:29.126]Okay.
- [00:03:31.083]Who wants, yes, sir.
- [00:03:33.841]They have an objective with you.
- [00:03:35.723]To get you at a certain point.
- [00:03:37.669]The same objective is what you're thinking?
- [00:03:40.291]Okay, same mission.
- [00:03:42.175]Yes?
- [00:03:43.575]Sometime they will do one-on-one time
- [00:03:46.279]to make conversation at night, even if they're busy.
- [00:03:49.534]Dedicate their time and help you out,
- [00:03:52.324]and then go back to what they were working on.
- [00:03:54.068]Okay, spending some individual time.
- [00:03:56.646]Yes?
- [00:03:57.527]They help you to seize your
- [00:03:58.712]potential and the opportunities ahead of you.
- [00:04:01.334]Mmkay, good points.
- [00:04:03.143]Yes, ma'am?
- [00:04:04.304]I said someone that will
- [00:04:05.484]advise me in the certain direction.
- [00:04:07.749]That'll give me factual knowledge
- [00:04:09.021]to assist in where I need to be.
- [00:04:11.396]Advising a direction.
- [00:04:12.410]Did your hand go up, sir?
- [00:04:14.259]Oh, I just got, someone whose
- [00:04:16.550]effective, available, and accountable for me.
- [00:04:22.243]Constructive criticism and, also, correct you when you need.
- [00:04:27.151](student comments)
- [00:04:28.434](laughs)
- [00:04:29.996]Those are some of the things that are on my list, too,
- [00:04:32.101]so I don't have a list here but
- [00:04:33.429]we're gonna go through a couple slides.
- [00:04:36.027]Maybe he came to my presentation before
- [00:04:38.290]and he based his off (laughter).
- [00:04:43.835]Mentoring, says has the ability to
- [00:04:45.408]assist graduate students of color with adjustment
- [00:04:47.976]to both the academic and nonacademic.
- [00:04:50.244]I don't know if I heard much on
- [00:04:51.473]the nonacademic from your list but
- [00:04:54.492]they also can help you on that side.
- [00:04:56.898]There's several models out there and
- [00:04:58.416]we're gonna look at some at the end.
- [00:04:59.743]I'm gonna focus on UNL's, also,
- [00:05:02.266]and actually that's where my handout comes from.
- [00:05:04.777]We'll watch our time and make sure we
- [00:05:06.419]get a chance to look at that.
- [00:05:08.435]Relationships involve experienced individual,
- [00:05:11.187]so someone mentioned something they've been through.
- [00:05:14.036]Gonna help you with the habits, performance,
- [00:05:16.598]and progress
- [00:05:19.218]of less-experienced, that protege, you're the protege.
- [00:05:23.244]We're gonna see what we can do here.
- [00:05:25.181]What is an advisor?
- [00:05:27.781]Typically, that's a person that you have
- [00:05:30.303]assigned to you by a department.
- [00:05:32.370]You go in, you register in the program,
- [00:05:34.787]all of us have an advisor now, right?
- [00:05:37.526]They tell you what classes you can take.
- [00:05:40.253]What you
- [00:05:42.969]should not take, the routes and try to help you
- [00:05:45.695]get through that program that you're studying.
- [00:05:49.345]We have that person as an undergrad
- [00:05:51.534]and we'll have that person as a graduate student.
- [00:05:54.268]They can help you work on your thesis or your dissertation.
- [00:05:57.733]So no problems with that.
- [00:05:58.799]We know what that advisor is, right?
- [00:06:02.830]So is your advisor a mentor?
- [00:06:05.078]Some of them.
- [00:06:06.002]Some of 'em?
- [00:06:08.326]Does anyone here have an advisor that is not a mentor?
- [00:06:11.626]Okay so some are not, huh?
- [00:06:13.789]We have both sides here so,
- [00:06:15.844]here, relationships with mentors
- [00:06:18.039]tend to go deeper and more personal than that advisor.
- [00:06:22.506]You come in.
- [00:06:23.354]"Take Mechanics and Materials."
- [00:06:24.664]"Take Dynamics."
- [00:06:25.497]"Take Statics."
- [00:06:26.560]You take these courses, you get A's or B's,
- [00:06:28.694]you know, alright, we'll be in good shape.
- [00:06:31.764]But that mentor is gonna maintain contact with you.
- [00:06:37.113]Doctor Bahipi's presenting right now.
- [00:06:39.341]He was my instructor when I was an undergrad.
- [00:06:41.625]He and I later became co-workers.
- [00:06:44.022]I can call on him at any time.
- [00:06:45.860]I met a coworker of his last week,
- [00:06:49.119]and I mentioned that I knew Dr. Bahipi and his eyes lit up.
- [00:06:52.436]"Oh, that's my mentor."
- [00:06:54.098]He's another professor that works with him,
- [00:06:56.419]and he said that he considers him his mentor.
- [00:07:00.721]That relationship can continue.
- [00:07:03.392]And you help support new graduate students
- [00:07:05.054]that are going into the work world or even graduate school.
- [00:07:08.907]Individuals with effective mentoring,
- [00:07:11.697]let me get all my bullets up there.
- [00:07:14.028]They can experience fewer problems.
- [00:07:16.756]That person can be there to help you
- [00:07:18.313]get through this program.
- [00:07:19.706]It's gonna be a challenge, okay?
- [00:07:22.280]But you can work with that mentor
- [00:07:24.727]and they can help you get through the program.
- [00:07:26.946]There was a student I knew in graduate school
- [00:07:29.964]that did not have a mentor and did not have
- [00:07:32.560]an effective advisor and it took that student
- [00:07:35.183]a lot longer to get through the program.
- [00:07:38.135]I, like I said, I learned from that individual and
- [00:07:43.440]I learned what not to do
- [00:07:45.487]by following her.
- [00:07:46.866]That same person was my advisor initially,
- [00:07:50.423]and I would go into his office and
- [00:07:53.276]she said he refuses to review her dissertation.
- [00:07:56.428]And I would go into his office and
- [00:07:58.019]I'd see her dissertation sitting in the corner.
- [00:08:00.256]I noticed what book or what papers were on the top of it.
- [00:08:02.484]I'd go in that office a month later.
- [00:08:04.190]Her draft of her dissertation was still in that same corner.
- [00:08:07.065]Same book or page was on it.
- [00:08:10.292]I'd come back, it hasn't moved.
- [00:08:11.650]It was there last month, it's still there again.
- [00:08:14.790]She did not have a good relationship with that individual,
- [00:08:17.237]and that, in turn, resulted in her taking
- [00:08:20.653]a lot longer to get through her program.
- [00:08:23.454]But then the person became my advisor kinda mentored me,
- [00:08:27.220]and told me don't follow that path.
- [00:08:29.641]That truly helped me get through the program a lot quicker,
- [00:08:33.246]and as I said, if you have this person, you'll be
- [00:08:34.400]more productive and help you make responsible choices.
- [00:08:39.635]There's a lot of literature out there.
- [00:08:41.282]I'mma show you a couple things here that
- [00:08:45.891]verifies and validates that a mentor
- [00:08:49.673]is a key component to your finishing school.
- [00:08:52.638]Here, Council on Graduate Schools survey says,
- [00:08:54.805]recent doctoral students indicated that
- [00:08:57.356]the quality of their mentoring
- [00:08:59.172]and advising played a major role in
- [00:09:01.435]them completing their degree.
- [00:09:03.186]I know a lot of students that I was in graduate school with
- [00:09:06.277]that were a lot smarter than me,
- [00:09:08.381]working on their Ph.D's and they didn't finish school.
- [00:09:11.099]I'm like, man, this guy's so sharp.
- [00:09:13.393]He got sidetracked with other things.
- [00:09:16.182]Some of it may have just been personal things
- [00:09:18.740]that came up that prevented them from going on,
- [00:09:21.395]but that mentor can help you.
- [00:09:26.294]More recent document
- [00:09:27.738]that I pulled up from the Department of Education.
- [00:09:30.915]Kim talks about the importance of
- [00:09:32.634]students pursuing graduate education and it says,
- [00:09:35.674]having a faculty member during
- [00:09:36.973]their undergrad education actually helps.
- [00:09:40.253]Says especially relevant for students of color.
- [00:09:47.348]You can have an advisor, and there's a couple papers out
- [00:09:50.966]I'll show later that talks about,
- [00:09:53.323]that talks about the importance of race.
- [00:09:58.351]We'll take a look at that in a second.
- [00:10:00.630]Identifying a mentor.
- [00:10:02.864]We need to think about that person's background.
- [00:10:07.099]What type of relationship can we build with that,
- [00:10:09.840]an actual agreement.
- [00:10:11.753]One of the resources we're gonna look at, there's a
- [00:10:13.599]document that you and your mentor should sign off on.
- [00:10:18.159]It can be the department chair.
- [00:10:20.376]Can be the minority faculty member.
- [00:10:22.628]Or someone in your area, someone that helps with planning.
- [00:10:26.142]There are lots of sources out there that can help you
- [00:10:30.410]navigate this degree program via mentors.
- [00:10:34.683]Can help develop and maintain momentum.
- [00:10:36.532]Once you get something started,
- [00:10:37.920]that mentor is there, alright we're going now.
- [00:10:40.359]Let's keep things going.
- [00:10:47.300]This is from Dr. Howard Adams,
- [00:10:49.293]and some of my information came from Dr. Adams.
- [00:10:52.915]He has the three P's.
- [00:10:55.046]He says that this is what effective mentoring
- [00:10:57.623]provide proteges an edge.
- [00:10:59.868]Gonna give you three P's here.
- [00:11:01.460]Process, permission, and protection.
- [00:11:04.512]How do I get through this one?
- [00:11:05.950]I got a problem here, I need someone to help me.
- [00:11:08.831]You go and talk to this mentor.
- [00:11:12.117]Permission.
- [00:11:13.131]Is this something I should do?
- [00:11:16.348]Doctor Jones, is this really something you think I should,
- [00:11:19.549]and he says, look,
- [00:11:20.382]I don't think you should take that approach.
- [00:11:22.708]That student I was mentioning earlier,
- [00:11:24.965]if she'd had a mentor, some of the things that she did,
- [00:11:28.740]my advisor and mentor said do not do.
- [00:11:32.513]She never bounced these ideas off of someone.
- [00:11:35.723]She was a big complainer and I think that backfired on her.
- [00:11:39.799]Protection.
- [00:11:40.632]Shields you from outside attacks.
- [00:11:43.212]My mentor and advisor, when I was
- [00:11:45.755]selecting my committee for my,
- [00:11:49.226]for my dissertation, he recommended,
- [00:11:51.123]no, I don't think that you want Dr. Smith on your committee.
- [00:11:56.164]Dr. Smith and Dr. James don't like each other,
- [00:11:59.209]and they gonna take it out on you.
- [00:12:02.418]Dr. Smith would tell me, okay,
- [00:12:03.927]I want you to to go and do this research.
- [00:12:06.819]Find some information on this topic.
- [00:12:08.878]And I'd go and find that information on the topic.
- [00:12:10.986]Dr. James doesn't like that.
- [00:12:13.028]Dr. James says, why is he doing this here?
- [00:12:15.482]I want him to go and do this.
- [00:12:16.727]So those two would be battling
- [00:12:18.625]but my mentor guided me through that path
- [00:12:22.056]and helped me get through the process.
- [00:12:23.705]Those are some of the things,
- [00:12:24.898]the protection that he offered.
- [00:12:28.833]What's the role of that mentor?
- [00:12:31.601]Information, advice, expectations,
- [00:12:33.749]and I think I heard some of these things from you guys.
- [00:12:35.671]Shares experiences.
- [00:12:37.457]Also can develop that academic plan and goals.
- [00:12:40.494]What do you wanna do?
- [00:12:42.546]What do you want to do?
- [00:12:44.744]Now I believe all the slides will be available to you,
- [00:12:47.533]so if you miss some of the things,
- [00:12:49.261]we'll make sure you get copies of them.
- [00:12:53.279]What's your role?
- [00:12:55.658]You're sitting on the other side of the table.
- [00:12:58.256]Mentors like proactive people.
- [00:13:00.726]You're gonna sit back and say,
- [00:13:01.679]I'm gonna wait on them to tell me what I should do next.
- [00:13:04.847]You know, like, I haven't seen John in a while.
- [00:13:08.821]Where's John?
- [00:13:10.191]John going in on a document.
- [00:13:12.209]We're gonna look at a little worksheet
- [00:13:13.326]we're gonna look at may help with some of that later.
- [00:13:16.701]What about the interest?
- [00:13:18.138]I really have an interest in doing this.
- [00:13:20.981]You go in and a lot of graduate students take the approach
- [00:13:23.984]that they wanna solve all of the world's problems.
- [00:13:27.580]And an instructor may come to you and say, okay.
- [00:13:31.058]You can solve all the world's problems
- [00:13:32.363]if you got thirty years to work on this research.
- [00:13:35.681]We're gonna help you become a little more focused,
- [00:13:37.886]and by sharing that information,
- [00:13:39.679]your mentor can work with you and your advisor
- [00:13:42.925]to get through that.
- [00:13:43.758]Committed to learning.
- [00:13:46.343]Receptive to being directed and learn from experiences.
- [00:13:49.997]You need to take this and someone mentioned correct...
- [00:13:55.609]Being able to accept criticism.
- [00:14:00.763]Understand the social environment.
- [00:14:02.811]Good mentorship consists of
- [00:14:04.633]these things that are listed here.
- [00:14:06.046]Interacting, teaching.
- [00:14:08.626]This could lead to having a better understanding
- [00:14:11.907]of the academic protocol.
- [00:14:15.415]That's that example that I used earlier.
- [00:14:17.672]The organizational norms, just don't do this.
- [00:14:19.969]That person liked to bypass people
- [00:14:22.381]within her community, within the department.
- [00:14:25.339]Going to the graduate school dean.
- [00:14:26.804]Going to the engineering dean.
- [00:14:29.674]Look, those things are not gonna work well.
- [00:14:32.103]The dean was friends with the department head.
- [00:14:36.179]The two deans, the graduate school dean and
- [00:14:37.989]the engineering dean, were friends.
- [00:14:39.994]I'm gonna go to them and complain about their friend.
- [00:14:43.753]My mentor stepped in, let me handle this.
- [00:14:47.528]The office politics.
- [00:14:48.937]All that's intertwined.
- [00:14:51.103]How does it work?
- [00:14:52.033]What's the best way?
- [00:14:53.937]They can help you with those things.
- [00:14:55.702]What am I gonna need to accomplish this task?
- [00:14:58.758]How am I gonna get through this program?
- [00:15:01.152]Say look, I really need you to focus on this.
- [00:15:03.393]This is something you need to be
- [00:15:05.004]a little more focused on, and help you get through.
- [00:15:08.138]What qualities do I need to complete this degree?
- [00:15:11.854]They can help you with all of these
- [00:15:12.853]things that we have listed here.
- [00:15:16.491]And avenues for advancement.
- [00:15:18.879]I am in constant contact
- [00:15:22.155]with my advisor
- [00:15:23.720]for my Ph.D. program.
- [00:15:26.087]He actually over the summer, I happened to be
- [00:15:28.709]in town with him and called him up.
- [00:15:31.197]He called me in to, he was doing a
- [00:15:35.654]an outside course, not on the university,
- [00:15:37.896]and he asked me would I go and teach this course for him.
- [00:15:40.681]I had an opportunity from a casual visit
- [00:15:44.483]to actually get paid for teaching a
- [00:15:46.816]four-hour class for him that day.
- [00:15:49.526]He and I are constantly in contact.
- [00:15:52.312]Peer mentoring, what does this mean to you?
- [00:15:55.881]What do you think, what is peer mentoring?
- [00:15:58.160]So--?
- [00:15:59.027]Yes, ma'am.
- [00:15:59.860]I have a question. Yes.
- [00:16:00.693]And I think you may be
- [00:16:01.526]just about to answer that. Okay.
- [00:16:03.172]I'm currently in a program
- [00:16:04.250]where I'm supposed to mentor but
- [00:16:06.464]I'm mentoring freshmans. Okay.
- [00:16:09.645]And they're not interested.
- [00:16:11.321]You know what I mean?
- [00:16:12.188]What will these tactics to
- [00:16:16.079]gain their interest, or get them to wanna,
- [00:16:19.990]because I'm literally trying to give them
- [00:16:22.315]all this information and, don't get me wrong,
- [00:16:25.871]one of the three is not interested.
- [00:16:30.267]From your point of view, what would you say?
- [00:16:34.245]I have students that are not interested.
- [00:16:37.491]And I know the challenge that you have.
- [00:16:40.679]Does that person have an interest in engineering?
- [00:16:43.618]I mean, (audibly thinks).
- [00:16:46.963]That's the big question mark.
- [00:16:48.669]That was one of the protege's,
- [00:16:50.977]there's a question mark there.
- [00:16:53.543]I would think she would.
- [00:16:55.145]She's taking all these classes.
- [00:16:58.539]I don't know.
- [00:16:59.462]My viewpoint on those that are not showing interest
- [00:17:03.610]is that they're not sure of their direction
- [00:17:06.561]at this point in time. Okay.
- [00:17:09.922]I'm teaching a freshman engineering class now,
- [00:17:12.531]and I have quite a few that they simply come to class
- [00:17:15.287]and I have one, he sits on his backpack
- [00:17:17.839]the entire class period.
- [00:17:19.450]He sits there.
- [00:17:20.659]I said, are you interested in aviation?
- [00:17:22.477]You know, are you interested in automotive?
- [00:17:24.114]What are your interests?
- [00:17:25.047]What are you interested in?
- [00:17:26.819]I don't know.
- [00:17:28.441]I think that's gonna be the key,
- [00:17:29.926]trying to figure out what they're interested in.
- [00:17:31.803]You saw the proteges list
- [00:17:33.879]that I had there about the interest.
- [00:17:36.205]If we can figure out their interest,
- [00:17:37.303]then maybe we can stay more, good question, though.
- [00:17:40.482]Good question.
- [00:17:41.876]What is peer mentoring in general?
- [00:17:45.526]What do you think that is?
- [00:17:48.192]Maybe getting
- [00:17:49.025]constructive criticism from your peer?
- [00:17:50.769]From your peers.
- [00:17:52.379]Previously session someone asked me about did I,
- [00:17:55.221]what about my mentoring with my Masters program?
- [00:17:57.313]With my Masters degree.
- [00:17:58.871]And I was at Georgia Tech.
- [00:18:00.229]They asked about a faculty mentor, and I said,
- [00:18:02.777]I really didn't have it, didn't think about it.
- [00:18:04.299]I really didn't have one at that stage in my academic
- [00:18:07.382]studies but I had peers that I
- [00:18:11.510]considered my mentors at that time.
- [00:18:14.013]They guided us.
- [00:18:14.846]And with that program at the time,
- [00:18:16.877]they had an Office of Minority Education,
- [00:18:18.735]so it was mostly focused on undergraduate students there.
- [00:18:22.263]But some of those became graduate students and
- [00:18:25.377]mentored other incoming graduate students.
- [00:18:28.100]Being able to have someone there that looks like you,
- [00:18:31.388]is going through what you're going through,
- [00:18:33.277]are some of those benefits and
- [00:18:35.190]opportunities that are available.
- [00:18:40.042]Adding a little more detail to that,
- [00:18:41.490]peer mentoring programs for new graduate students.
- [00:18:44.081]A lot of universities have a graduate student open house.
- [00:18:50.188]They all get together and I remember
- [00:18:51.910]walking in a big room, a few hundred students came in.
- [00:18:55.676]I saw a few people, waved at them, we started talking.
- [00:18:58.559]These were incoming students and they also brought in
- [00:19:02.565]existing graduate students, current graduate students,
- [00:19:04.972]that could probably provide some of that mentoring.
- [00:19:07.170]You can build on that community.
- [00:19:10.549]Peer mentors select from more advanced graduate students.
- [00:19:13.069]These guys have done this.
- [00:19:15.083]They can tell you, this is a route to take.
- [00:19:18.905]Often can look at and help you
- [00:19:21.038]with some of those unwritten rules.
- [00:19:23.693]That young lady that I was talking about,
- [00:19:24.764]she violated some unwritten rules and it took her years.
- [00:19:29.265]I think she did finish before me,
- [00:19:30.893]but she was probably in graduate school,
- [00:19:32.306]and she did some of this part-time.
- [00:19:33.832]She was probably in graduate school
- [00:19:35.459]three, four years before I was and
- [00:19:37.730]I may have graduated a year after she did.
- [00:19:41.827]But she violated a lot of those unwritten rules.
- [00:19:46.250]Here's a source here from an article
- [00:19:48.914]that I found that talks about, does race matter?
- [00:19:53.732]There's lots of documents out there and
- [00:19:56.887]this person here does indicate that
- [00:19:58.987]it did matter in her situation.
- [00:20:01.897]But someone asks, what if there's no one
- [00:20:03.231]that looks like me in my department?
- [00:20:06.210]In the college of engineering?
- [00:20:07.744]There are others outside.
- [00:20:08.966]They do not have to be in your particular discipline.
- [00:20:13.791]There was a guy I knew that was in biology
- [00:20:15.835]at the University of Alabama Huntsville where I studied.
- [00:20:17.906]He was very active, and he wanted to ensure
- [00:20:20.632]that people got through the program.
- [00:20:24.223]They do not have to be in your program.
- [00:20:29.192]There are various sources out here.
- [00:20:31.597]This is the University of Nebraska Lincoln site.
- [00:20:34.954]They have an actual guidebook for mentoring.
- [00:20:39.461]If you notice here, it says, who graduates,
- [00:20:42.045]who are graduate students?
- [00:20:43.363]They have a list of things there.
- [00:20:45.099]Why mentoring is hard to find.
- [00:20:46.857]Why mentoring is important.
- [00:20:48.254]Benefits of it.
- [00:20:49.728]There's a link that provided where
- [00:20:51.110]you can find some additional information
- [00:20:54.781]on mentoring on the site here.
- [00:20:57.736]I'mma go into a little more details in this site,
- [00:21:00.588]and we'll talk a little more about it.
- [00:21:01.736]It's under mentoring.
- [00:21:02.569]This kinda defines some of the things,
- [00:21:04.536]and within it has some key factors and
- [00:21:08.554]things that I think you should take a closer look.
- [00:21:11.642]Skills in this area are easier to develop
- [00:21:13.547]as a graduate student than you think.
- [00:21:16.154]They go through with this handbook and
- [00:21:18.708]really guide you through some do's and don'ts
- [00:21:23.116]and help you really select a mentor.
- [00:21:26.461]It talks about mentoring.
- [00:21:28.140]It clarifies your goals.
- [00:21:29.712]Some of the things we said, guide and direct.
- [00:21:32.142]Show interest and enthusiasm.
- [00:21:34.424]We gotta get some enthusiasm from that student
- [00:21:37.074]that may not have an interest just yet.
- [00:21:40.692]Within that handbook, it says what
- [00:21:43.025]a skillful mentor should provide,
- [00:21:44.709]and we're just gonna take a look at
- [00:21:45.607]some of these that are listed here.
- [00:21:47.699]They support others.
- [00:21:49.142]Encourage excellence.
- [00:21:50.188]And I heard that from someone.
- [00:21:51.934]Be enthusiastic.
- [00:21:53.781]You don't want someone whose really not interested in you,
- [00:21:57.791]and not showing some enthusiasm
- [00:21:59.946]that you think should be there.
- [00:22:01.479]Sensitive to the needs of others.
- [00:22:04.977]Use good judgment.
- [00:22:06.326]Thinks creatively.
- [00:22:07.470]This friend of mine, Dr. Calvin Mackey,
- [00:22:09.155]was studying for his Ph.D. at Georgia Tech,
- [00:22:12.176]and when he had
- [00:22:15.224]lost his mom, his advisor had
- [00:22:19.109]no interest in that.
- [00:22:21.320]As you heard in the previous presentation,
- [00:22:23.682]his advisor had some deadlines.
- [00:22:25.731]I need you to finish this by this time.
- [00:22:28.330]His mentor, which he's never identified to me as his mentor
- [00:22:32.104]but I know who she was, Caroline Myers,
- [00:22:33.851]was the Civil Engineering Department Head
- [00:22:35.732]and later became the President of Jackson State.
- [00:22:38.205]She was his mentor.
- [00:22:39.789]He went to her and she said this is what you need to do.
- [00:22:42.785]Get back to New Orleans and take care of your family.
- [00:22:46.242]But his advisor had no interest whatsoever.
- [00:22:48.819]I need this done by this time and that's it.
- [00:22:51.646]You don't have a choice.
- [00:22:52.949]You heard earlier that you might have to
- [00:22:54.232]work during Spring Break and some of the holidays,
- [00:22:57.063]and that was this advisor's approach.
- [00:22:59.082]He needed his work done.
- [00:23:01.706]Your mentor can help you with those things.
- [00:23:05.600]They can also hold you accountable,
- [00:23:07.365]I heard the word accountable come up from someone.
- [00:23:10.467]Ongoing commitment.
- [00:23:12.272]Continuous, right?
- [00:23:15.256]Under support category here,
- [00:23:17.147]it says some students discuss ideas that might
- [00:23:19.683]be of fear that they're naive or crazy.
- [00:23:23.394]Go and bounce this idea off your mentor.
- [00:23:25.519]See what they say.
- [00:23:26.662]What do you think?
- [00:23:27.844]Should I go and take this to my advisor?
- [00:23:30.594]She could say, oh no no no no, don't bring that up.
- [00:23:32.754]That's something you shouldn't do,
- [00:23:35.087]or it may be something you should do.
- [00:23:38.293]Can teach how you to break small a large task.
- [00:23:40.806]When I talked about trying to save the world.
- [00:23:44.937]As a graduate student, students go in with these big ideas.
- [00:23:49.415]And they say, if you're gonna be here for thirty years,
- [00:23:51.509]you can do it.
- [00:23:52.526]Let's break this down a little.
- [00:23:54.507]Only thing we need to do, let's see if we can figure out
- [00:23:56.207]a way of cleaning up spring water
- [00:23:59.330]rather then cleaning up the ocean.
- [00:24:04.798]That's some of the things they can help you do.
- [00:24:07.225]Give you enough space to be creative,
- [00:24:09.796]and they'll let you know, it's okay to make mistakes.
- [00:24:13.607]You can learn from your failures.
- [00:24:15.686]Another classic example I learned from that individual,
- [00:24:19.078]and that person's failures by trying
- [00:24:21.323]to get her dissertation reviewed.
- [00:24:27.470]Respect.
- [00:24:28.784]Here, you can give students your full attention.
- [00:24:32.351]The handbook that UNL has is
- [00:24:35.178]for the mentor and mentee, as my first slide kinda showed.
- [00:24:38.525]What do we need to do?
- [00:24:40.021]I wanna make sure you're a good mentor,
- [00:24:41.690]and I want to make sure that mentee
- [00:24:43.344]is a good recipient of what you have to offer.
- [00:24:46.766]I say this is an excellent site
- [00:24:48.446]that you can go to and learn, get some more information.
- [00:24:50.763]Give your full attention.
- [00:24:52.223]They can learn remembering previous conversations.
- [00:24:54.846]The last time we talked, this is
- [00:24:56.110]what you said you were going to do.
- [00:24:59.301]Tell students what you learn from them.
- [00:25:03.325]If someone else comes behind you,
- [00:25:05.816]they can share that information with them.
- [00:25:07.526]I'm aware of a graduate student that
- [00:25:08.710]all at once got a lot of money
- [00:25:10.488]coming in during that time period.
- [00:25:11.780]Went out and bought a brand-new truck.
- [00:25:14.098]He didn't need a brand-new truck.
- [00:25:16.121]Why'd you do that?
- [00:25:17.257]This money wasn't for you to buy a truck.
- [00:25:19.845]That advisor, he don't care.
- [00:25:21.765]I need my work done.
- [00:25:24.325]That mentor has a different approach to it, alright?
- [00:25:27.606]Someone mentioned constructive feedback.
- [00:25:29.280]You gotta be able to accept that constructive feedback.
- [00:25:33.558]The mentor can give you a,
- [00:25:35.367]provide feedback on your work.
- [00:25:38.020]If you fall behind, don't think this is
- [00:25:40.352]because of a lack of commitment.
- [00:25:42.360]We gotta figure out why.
- [00:25:43.806]Some things my be going on.
- [00:25:45.421]Let's try to figure out what we can do to keep you on track.
- [00:25:49.907]Say you might dislike the project they're working on,
- [00:25:52.219]let's talk about this.
- [00:25:53.454]I really don't wanna work on this.
- [00:25:55.290]The advisor don't care if you like it or not.
- [00:25:57.942]That mentor, let's see what we can do to get through this.
- [00:26:03.576]See if we're on time here.
- [00:26:05.119]Recognize that those with (stumbling with words)
- [00:26:08.416]character and integrity here, sorry.
- [00:26:10.939]They're watching you.
- [00:26:12.308]Trying to learn ways of doing things.
- [00:26:14.395]We gotta see what's going on here, be clear.
- [00:26:17.787]Have some high standards for yourself and the protege.
- [00:26:20.372]They want both to be on the same track.
- [00:26:25.092]Here's another site, from University of Washington.
- [00:26:27.721]I pull from their website.
- [00:26:30.405]They have a mentoring site, and they have
- [00:26:32.355]some of the same things, mentoring resources.
- [00:26:34.875]Mentoring guides.
- [00:26:37.444]Most graduate schools have something like this,
- [00:26:41.455]that you will have at your disposal.
- [00:26:42.927]You don't have to a be a graduate student
- [00:26:45.647]at University of Washington or University of Nebraska
- [00:26:47.713]to take advantage of the materials that are offered.
- [00:26:52.730]I got some of this information from Dr. Howard Adams.
- [00:26:56.380]He still does speaking engagements.
- [00:26:58.561]I think he was here the last time we had this conference.
- [00:27:02.569]If you notice across the top of his current website,
- [00:27:04.774]he has Training and Publications
- [00:27:06.144]so some of his publications are here
- [00:27:08.168]that talk about mentoring and his true focus
- [00:27:11.820]on trying to get more underrepresented students
- [00:27:15.004]in graduate school and completing degrees.
- [00:27:18.309]Once you hear Dr. Adams speak, you will not forget it.
- [00:27:21.182](chuckling)
- [00:27:24.236]The Council of Graduate School.
- [00:27:26.466]How do I get the mentoring you want?
- [00:27:29.911]There's some site there.
- [00:27:32.062]Has general information that can help you
- [00:27:33.500]get through one of these programs.
- [00:27:36.995]Here's a basis of some of the basic links that I have
- [00:27:41.635]and that will be posted.
- [00:27:44.351]I'm gonna give you a copy of something.
- [00:27:46.000]We're gonna take a quick look at.
- [00:27:50.738]If you could give everyone a copy.
- [00:27:53.812]Let me hold one while I'm talking to you.
- [00:27:56.074]I'll open it on the screen.
- [00:27:58.266]Here's a worksheet that came from the UNL site.
- [00:28:01.841]We're gonna look at this real quickly.
- [00:28:04.542]I guess we need to get to the last site.
- [00:28:10.591]There are about six of these worksheets that are
- [00:28:14.141]on the UNL's mentoring and guidelines worksheet.
- [00:28:17.891]I want you to look at worksheet one,
- [00:28:20.772]where it says "Your Expectations".
- [00:28:23.133]I want you to kinda look through this
- [00:28:24.058]'cause this kinda gives you some of the information
- [00:28:26.703]that we're talking about and the first one says,
- [00:28:29.393]"Reason I want a mentor.",
- [00:28:31.580]and you're sitting there thinking,
- [00:28:32.883]I want to receive some
- [00:28:35.922]encouragement and support from that person.
- [00:28:38.370]All these factors that are listed here
- [00:28:41.184]are things that you can think about and,
- [00:28:44.115]how will that benefit me?
- [00:28:47.668]Choose, go through and make a selection or two of those.
- [00:28:51.601]The second one says, "I hope my mentor and I will..."
- [00:28:55.669]Do you want them to meet over coffee, lunch?
- [00:28:58.895]Have a formal mentoring event together?
- [00:29:03.724]All these are kinds of things that can,
- [00:29:06.546]you may decide that that's what I like to do,
- [00:29:08.322]so you can go to your mentor and,
- [00:29:09.402]I'm gonna share this with him, are you willing to do this?
- [00:29:12.868]And, "I hope my mentor and I will discuss..."
- [00:29:15.960]We're gonna discuss academic subjects
- [00:29:18.114]that will benefit my future career.
- [00:29:22.138]I had a, when I went back to graduate school,
- [00:29:25.056]my wife is a mechanical engineer and
- [00:29:28.127]she wanted to get a degree in computer science,
- [00:29:31.662]and the computer science department head
- [00:29:34.183]wanted her to take fifteen credit hours
- [00:29:36.105]in computer science as an undergrad.
- [00:29:39.702]The mentor that I had there said, look,
- [00:29:41.976]that should not be the path to get into the program.
- [00:29:47.140]He said, by doing that, he's preventing
- [00:29:48.851]her from receiving any funding.
- [00:29:50.637]She's not gonna get any funding
- [00:29:51.494]for taking these 15 plus hours as an undergrad.
- [00:29:54.068]He admits her as a graduate student,
- [00:29:56.281]she can take these courses and receive additional funding.
- [00:29:59.858]But see, the advisor and department head of the department
- [00:30:02.550]never once said that, but there was
- [00:30:03.962]an external mentor in the biology department,
- [00:30:07.137]and this is what he was working to change.
- [00:30:09.713]Some of these things that are listed here
- [00:30:11.395]can kinda trigger you to think about,
- [00:30:13.163]what do I need from that mentor?
- [00:30:16.029]"Things I feel are off-limits."
- [00:30:19.789]Sharing intimate aspects of my life.
- [00:30:22.098]Like I said, my friend mentioned
- [00:30:23.833]to him his mother had passed, and he did not care.
- [00:30:30.170]The last one, "I hope my mentor
- [00:30:31.361]will help me with opportunities."
- [00:30:34.906]Think about these things that are listed here,
- [00:30:38.089]these five things that are listed here,
- [00:30:39.524]and you can apply some of these towards
- [00:30:44.159]selecting your mentor and be able to
- [00:30:48.055]find the right person.
- [00:30:52.857]I kinda wanted you to just think about those,
- [00:30:54.521]and on the back sheet, we're not gonna fill these out.
- [00:30:57.064]We're gonna look at these.
- [00:30:58.029]I kinda would like for you to do but
- [00:30:59.942]I'm not gonna have time to evaluate them,
- [00:31:02.913]and look at them just yet.
- [00:31:04.950]I'm just gonna scroll through those real quick.
- [00:31:09.043]We kinda look at--
- [00:31:09.998]On the bottom, first off here,
- [00:31:11.410]we didn't get to the bottom,
- [00:31:12.361]I'd like for you to think about this.
- [00:31:14.343]How much time do you think do you need with your mentor?
- [00:31:19.341]Do you want one hour?
- [00:31:21.413]Or once every other week?
- [00:31:22.813]Per month?
- [00:31:23.898]Now, on the site, there's an agreement.
- [00:31:26.143]You share that agreement with your mentor
- [00:31:29.946]and you both sign off on it.
- [00:31:32.226]We're agreeing to do these things.
- [00:31:34.400]We're talking about coming up with a contract.
- [00:31:36.703]You come up with a contract and you gotta something to hold
- [00:31:40.511]he or she accountable.
- [00:31:42.096]We wanna meet once a week.
- [00:31:44.053]They want you to get through.
- [00:31:45.881]I do this for some of the undergrad students
- [00:31:48.142]because we need students in our program.
- [00:31:51.098]Students think some faculty members don't want them.
- [00:31:53.572]They want you there.
- [00:31:55.009]They want you in the program,
- [00:31:56.185]so they're gonna do what they can
- [00:31:57.593]to hopefully keep you there.
- [00:31:59.434]The second page of that has these general questions
- [00:32:02.212]that I thought we'd just take a quick look at.
- [00:32:05.860]You can think about these things.
- [00:32:07.264]"What are my top five strengths?"
- [00:32:10.745]The second one is basically weaknesses.
- [00:32:12.962]Then opportunities.
- [00:32:14.896]No sweat, okay.
- [00:32:16.077]Threats.
- [00:32:17.307]And the last one, "What are the
- [00:32:19.113]five most important things I can do
- [00:32:21.467]over the next six months to build
- [00:32:22.784]on my strengths and overcome my challenges?"
- [00:32:27.300]If you kinda focus on some of these things,
- [00:32:28.963]I think we'll be okay.
- [00:32:34.014]I'mma go back to the presentation real quickly.
- [00:32:37.080]We should be wrapping things up here.
- [00:32:40.540]I think it's on the right slide.
- [00:32:44.958]I am Doctor Blevins of Southern University.
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