Career development impacts of a research program on graduate student and postdoc mentors

Abstract

This evidence-based practice paper explores how graduate students and postdocs benefit from serving as mentors to undergraduate research interns. Utilizing three years of qualitative data from 38 mentors, our findings indicate that mentors feel better prepared for future faculty careers as they gain skills in project management, supervision, and communication. This paper reviews common themes across mentor evaluation data and discusses how these factors are contributing to the development of future faculty members prepared to work with diverse student populations. Our preferred method for delivery is a short traditional lecture followed by facilitated discussion of best practices among session attendees.