Faculty Mentor

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WAESO recognizes the value of time invested in preparing faculty mentors to engage in summer research with undergraduates and requires this as a component of the National Science Foundation awards to LSAMP programs.

Although mentoring, like teaching, is a skill that some seem to possess innately, it is too critical a function to leave to chance. This is especially true in research-intensive labs, in which mentoring is most often done by a graduate student, post-doc, or other non-faculty member. To assist in developing mentoring skills or enhancing existing skills, a brief overview of effective mentoring practices and resources has been developed (Raman, Geisinger, Kemis, & de la Mora, 2016).

To respect the time constraints on these labs and those faculty mentors who have already committed to a summer undergraduate research scholar, we have designed training around podcasts, webinars, and online resources. To manage the multi-institution nature of our program, we request mentors review the training remotely and at their own pace.

To that end, in 2020/2021 we recorded a series of video interviews with Professor Albert L. McHenry, Ph.D. as an introductory mentor training platform.

 

Albert L. McHenry, Ph.D. - Professor McHenry discusses the specific steps to take when searching for a mentor.