Image
Cultivating a Culture of Mentoring
Alongside research and teaching, mentoring sits at the core of Duke’s mission. Like teaching, mentoring supports the learning and growth of others. Yet mentoring is distinctive because of its direct, proven impact on academic and career success, and how it is embedded within respectful, collegial, and reciprocal relationships of care.
Because of its highly relational aspect, mentoring is often more art than science. There is no one right way to mentor, because relationships are shaped by individual, disciplinary, and contextual differences. Yet without a shared understanding of what mentoring is—within departments and programs as well as between mentors and mentees—misunderstandings and misaligned expectations can proliferate. Both mentors and mentees also benefit from shared expectations for their work together, strong communication and interpersonal skills, and high levels of trust and mutual respect.
What is mentoring, really?
There are myriad definitions of mentoring. The 2030 Teaching and Excellence Report has adapted the following definition established by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (2019):
"Mentorship is a professional, working alliance in which individuals work together over time to support the personal and professional growth, development, and success of the relational partners through the provision of career and psychosocial support.”
Although the formal 1:1 advisor-advisee relationship may be the most established model of mentoring in most disciplines, some of the richest and most rewarding forms of mentoring can occur in less hierachical arrangements, within networks of multiple mentors, and within communities of peers and near-peers (including postdoctoral students and undergraduates).
Where can I find support?
Choosing your mentorship development path
Duke Graduate School leadership works as a team to provide consultation for any Ph.D. program, faculty mentor, or graduate student who would like individualized guidance on questions related to mentoring. All consultations will be treated as confidential as allowed by Duke's mandatory reporting policies.
Use the contact form below this section to book a consultation with a member of The Graduate School leadership team.
- Requests from faculty mentors, DGSs/DGSAs and other graduate program leaders will be shared with Maria LaMonaca Wisdom, Graduate School Campus Partner and Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement.
- Requests from graduate students will be shared with Melissa Bostrom, Senior Assistant Dean for Professional Development and the Graduate Student Affairs team.
TGS bases its mentor workshop content on evidence-based curricula developed by the Center for Improved Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER) as well as frameworks and tools drawn from professional helping disciplines such as counseling and coaching.
If you do not see information about upcoming workshops on this site, please reach out to Maria LaMonaca Wisdom for more details.
We invite you to consult our curated recommendations and resource pages for faculty mentors, graduate student mentees, DGSs, DGSAs, and other graduate program leaders.
Visit The Duke Mentoring Commons, a virtual gathering place for mentors to share with one another — and with the campus community — the diversity, vibrancy and power of impactful mentoring relationships at Duke.
Learn from The Graduate School's recipients of the Dean's Awards for Excellence in Mentoring.
Reach out to us
The Art and Science of Mentoring: A Workshop Series for Faculty
A Four-Part Development Series (with RCR credits)
For 100 years at Duke, mentoring has fueled the academic and research progress of faculty and students in The Graduate School. What have we learned, and how do we mentor effectively with the evolving needs of today's students?
Integrating evidence-based mentoring case studies with insights from the “helping professions” of counseling and coaching, this series integrates the art of relational attunement with the science of structured, evidence-based mentoring. Faculty participants will strengthen their ability to mentor with empathy, clarity, and confidence, building relationships that foster growth, inclusion, and resilience.
Each session in this series has been approved for two hours of RCR credit and is intended for graduate faculty. The four sessions will be co-led by Maria Wisdom, Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement, and Yan Li, Associate Dean for Graduate Programs.
Learn more about each session and how to register on each of the event pages below.