Mentoring Resources
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences describes mentoring as "a relationship between a more experienced person, the mentor, and a less experienced person, the mentee or trainee, within which important career skills are transferred from one to the other. The mentoring relationship is an agreement between two people that the mentor will take a long-term interest in the career development and aspirations of the mentee. This is a serious responsibility for the mentor, who must accept that he or she has taken on an important, perhaps life-long, role in another's career." The resources below are available to support and enhance the mentor-mentee relationship.
- Office of the Provost Mentoring Resources
- Office of the Provost Foundational Principles of Mentoring: The Office of the Provost has developed four foundational principles of mentoring for Northwestern faculty. These principles are applicable across the various contexts of mentoring and can help ensure that the benefits of mentorship extend to individuals, units, and the institution. Each principle includes examples of best practices that can be used to develop and support mentoring activities. See the Four Foundational Principles of Mentoring Practice.
- The Office of the Provost, The Graduate School, and the Center for Leadership offer the “Advancing Mentoring Excellence at Northwestern” a mentoring training program. This program is based on the Office of the Provost’s Foundational Principles of Mentoring Practice and nationally recognized best practices for the mentoring of graduate students and postdoctoral trainees. The training includes small group work, case studies, short lecture-style learning, and guidance to help faculty be intentional and confident in their mentoring abilities. Each session has case studies available for both lab-based STEM faculty and non-lab-based faculty across all disciplines. Completion of all five evidence-based modules in the Advancing Mentoring Excellence at Northwestern series within two years will earn a Mentoring Excellence Certificate and constitutes successful completion of the NIH requirements for faculty mentoring training for training grants. Sessions will be both virtual and in-person at the Chicago and Evanston campuses. Please note, faculty who participated in training in previous years but have not completed the full sequence yet can contact faculty@northwestern.edu for guidance.
- NUCATS (Northwestern University Clinical & Translational Sciences Institute)
- NUCATS hosts “Developing & Enhancing Mentoring Relationships” monthly workshops designed to prepare mentors and mentees to be effective and successful in their roles. Workshops are aligned with and guided by Office of the Provost’s Foundational Principles of Mentoring Practice. Workshops include presentation of evidence-based best practices, open discussions, breakout groups and hypothetical case scenarios to help participants reflect on their own experiences as mentors and mentees. NUCATS also offers a "Mentor Training Certificate Program” for faculty who hold appointments in the Feinberg School of Medicine or are members of NUCATS. Completion of all three required workshops, three elective workshops, program surveys and evaluations within three years will earn a NUCATS Mentor Training Certificate. This program fulfills NIH requirements for faculty mentoring training for training grants. All sessions will be in person at the Chicago Campus. Please contact Morgan Barrowman if you are interested in enrolling.
- National Research Mentoring Network
Five institutions were awarded funds to develop a national network to provide evidence-based and culturally-aware mentorship, grantsmanship training and other professional development, networking opportunities, and resources to mentors and their trainees across the biomedical sciences. Programming is available to support scientists throughout their career, from undergraduate students to senior faculty members. See the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN). - Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER)
CIMER faculty and staff investigate approaches for improving research mentoring relationships for organizations and institutions. We develop, implement and evaluate mentor and mentee training using theoretically-grounded, evidence-based, and culturally-responsive training interventions and investigations. See CIMER - Northwestern University CTSI Mentoring Alignment Checklist
The CTSI Mentoring Alignment Checklist features items for trainee and mentor expectations. - AAMC Compact Between Postdoctoral Appointees and Their Mentors
The Compact is intended to initiate discussions at the local and national levels about the postdoctoral trainee-mentor relationship and the commitments necessary for a high-quality postdoctoral training experience. - AAMC Compact Between Biomedical Graduate Students and Their Research Advisors
These guiding principles are intended to support the development of a positive mentoring relationship between the predoctoral student and their research advisors.