Student and advisor exchange a hug at the hooding ceremony

What does TGS recommend for Duke Faculty Mentors?  

The recommendations below for Duke mentor are drawn from the Core Expectations from Graduate Education at Duke and by the Duke 2030 Teaching and Mentoring Excellence Report. Additional recent and relevant resources are provided—including training content, books, articles and podcasts.  

 

 

Recommendation #1: 

Develop clear expectations with your mentees in regard to how you’ll work together, and what you’ll help your mentee accomplish. 

Also develop clear norms in relation to what you can (and can’t) do for your mentee, and what your accessibility will be.

Resources
  • Mentoring Compacts  
  • IDPs  

Recommendation #2

Establish norms of healthy, respectful communication with your mentee. 

This includes providing consistent, ongoing feedback on academic work and progress towards degree. Mentors sometimes need to have conversations with mentees that may feel difficult for everyone. If you find yourself avoiding hard conversations, consider learning about methods and tools for navigating those.  

Resources
  • Situation behavior impact feedback model  
  • Difficult Conversations at Work  
  • Nonviolent Communication 

Recommendation #3: 

Support your mentee’s professional development within and beyond academia. 

This may include helping mentees establish relationships with other informal mentors and professional connections.  

Resources
  • IDPs  
  • Duke Options  
  • Imagine PhD (career discernment in the humanities and social sciences)  
  • Graduate Student Mentoring Map  
  • Duke Alumni Network  

Recommendation #4: 

Support and respect mentees as whole people with unique backgrounds and identities, and lives beyond the classroom or lab.  
Resources
  • Equity-Minded Mentoring Toolkit 
  • The Science of Mentorship: A STEMM podcast  
  • On Being a Mentor: A Guide for Higher Education Faculty (chapters …)  

Recommendation #5:

Strive to create a climate that supports mental health and wellness, remaining mindful of your limits and professional boundaries.  
Resources
  • “How To Support Mentees Mental Health,” Inside Higher Ed 9 Sept. 2025  
  • Duke Reach  
  • Duke CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services)  

Recommendation #6:

Practice “reflective mentoring,” a regular habit of evaluating what’s working well for you and your mentee, what’s working less well, and how you might continue to develop as a mentor.   
Resources
  • The Mentee’s Guide, 3rd edition, by Lois J. Zachary and Lisa Z. Fain, 2022  
  • On Being A Mentor: A Guide to Higher Education Faculty, by W. Brad Johnson and Kimberly Griffin, 2024  
  • How To Mentor Anyone in Academia, Maria LaMonaca Wisdom, 2025  
  • CIMER (Center for Improved Mentored Experiences in Research) website