Promising Practices at Stanford
In 2017, the Committee on Graduate Studies identified a number of examples of promising departmental practices in graduate advising, in the context of great variation in disciplinary norms and individual styles that influence advising, through a review of the advising materials of Stanford graduate programs.
The promising practices below can be implemented using the referenced resources, to foster discussion about advising among faculty and between faculty and their students. Ultimately, effective graduate advising relies on open and honest communication, as well as on mutual respect and professional interactions between individual faculty and their advisees.
Academic advising by Stanford faculty is a critical component of all graduate students’ and postdoctoral scholars’ education. Effective relationships at Stanford require shared understanding of the advisor and student roles, and an articulation of shared values.
- Guidelines for Faculty-Student Advising at Stanford (PDF): elaborates the role academic advising plays in graduate students’ development and the responsibilities of students, faculty advisors, and departments.
- Advising Policies: review relevant University policies together, including your departments' or programs' advising expectations.
- Policies & Best Practices for Advising Relationships at Stanford (PDF): summarizes shared values, goals, and responsibilities and link to policies, resources, and problem-solving support.
- Student-Advisor Expectations Scales: facilitates discussion between students and advisors about their approach to academic advising, particularly designed for doctoral students.
- Faculty Expectations Document (links to an example from the biosciences): faculty may explicitly outline their expectations in a document that they discuss with new students and postdoctoral scholars and in some cases, amend with input from advisees, creating a “living” expectations agreement.
- Advising Agreements: departments may ask faculty and students to sign an advising agreement that outlines the responsibilities of each member.
- Advising Expectations (for DGSs and other dept/program leaders): lists of questions for degree programs and individual faculty to consider when establishing and communicating advising expectations
- Annual Doctoral Student Degree and Career Progress Meeting Worksheet: students are encouraged to meet annually with their advisors to take stock, set goals, and develop an action plan for the coming year. This customizable worksheet, endorsed by the Committee on Graduate Studies, can help facilitate such conversations.
- Biosciences Individual Development Plans: doctoral students in the Biosciences use the appropriate IDP form, tailored for students in Year 1, Year 2, and Years 3-5. Other students may find these forms useful to guide their own planning and discussions with their faculty advisor.
- myIDP: developed by Science Careers at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in collaboration with several universities, myIDP is used by many science students and postdoctoral scholars. All Stanford affiliates have free access to this resource by virtue of Stanford's institutional Science journal subscription.
- Imagine PhD: based on myIDP, this tool was developed for students in
- Programs for Faculty: VPGE offers conversations each quarterly on topics related to developing strong advising relationships.
- Explore the resources provided by Faculty Development and Engagement in the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement.
- Problem Solving & Crisis Intervention: tap into and learn from the experience in your degree program and School and in the other offices that support graduate students, including VPGE.
- Center for STEMM Mentorship: The Center for STEMM Mentorship at Stanford is an initiative launched in 2022 that works in service of building healthy research teams and improved mentorship alliances in STEMM labs. The center's program approach uniquely focuses on the unit of the research team, serving whole teams all together inclusive of faculty, students, postdocs, and staff.