SGSI 2026: Cultivating Connections: Nurturing Productive Mentoring Relationships

• Course will take place on Tuesday-Friday, September 8-11 from 9AM-4PM.
• Full attendance is expected.
• Approximately half an hour of reflection and work outside of class each day.

Brief Course Overview

For graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, your relationship with your faculty mentor/advisor/PI will have a deep and enduring impact on your research and career. This SGSI course is designed to help you strengthen this relationship using research and evidence-based strategies, while also helping you intentionally build meaningful relationships with your peers and preparing you to effectively mentor others. Upon completion, you will leave with a comprehensive Mentoring Action Plan (MAP) to help you navigate your educational journey at Stanford and beyond. We will also present on the promises and pitfalls of using AI in mentorship.

Course Format

The course will include a mix of short presentations, interactive small group discussions, and self-reflection exercises. We will also host a faculty panel discussion and open mingling times.

Intensity Level 🔥

Multiple topics are covered at a steady pace, with in-class activities requiring some preparation. Some out-of-class work is required, and regular in-class participation is expected. 

Audience 

Open to doctoral students at any stage and postdoctoral fellows in all disciplines, including master’s students who are on the PhD track. Postdoctoral scholars will be invited to apply during the final/postdoc application period starting July 6th. 

Detailed Course Description

For graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, your relationship with your faculty mentor/advisor/PI will have a deep and enduring impact on your research and career. Furthermore, studies have demonstrated that effective mentorship is associated with an increased sense of belonging, greater research productivity, and higher career satisfaction. Unfortunately, many don’t receive sufficient training on how to effectively engage with faculty mentors due to a lack of opportunities and formal requirements. 

This course is designed to train graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in all disciplines to nurture productive relationships with their mentors, along with mentees and peers, i.e., to ‘mentor 360 degrees’ by developing full circles of mentoring relationships. The training curriculum is based on current research and evidence-based strategies, and was developed with the nationally recognized Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER). 

The course will be highly interactive and process-oriented with self-reflection exercises and open discussions with your peers in similar circumstances. Course participants will leave with a comprehensive Mentoring Action Plan (MAP) to strengthen their mentoring relationships to advance their academic and professional careers. The course is focused on three main curricula: mentoring up, peer mentoring, and entering mentoring. 

Firstly, for your role as a mentee, the Mentoring Up curriculum focuses on engaging proactively with your faculty mentor/advisor/PI, and will address these competencies: 

• establishing effective communication practices
• aligning expectations with mentors
• soliciting and receiving feedback
• selecting faculty mentors
• growing your mentoring network 

Secondly, the peer mentoring curriculum focuses on building intentional relationships with peers to provide professional, academic, and psychological support. As peer mentoring can enhance your sense of belonging and reduce isolation, you’ll also have numerous opportunities to connect and support each other, and crowdsource with peers in similar situations throughout this course. 

Thirdly, the Entering Mentoring curriculum will prepare you to serve as a mentor, and/or enhance your current mentoring by addressing these competencies: 

• communicating across difference
• aligning expectations with mentees
• developing inclusive mentoring practices
• fostering your well-being as a mentor
• designing your mentoring philosophy 

After each competency, participants will be led through self-reflection exercises to create action steps, which will build toward a fully developed Mentoring Action Plan (MAP) by the end of the course. Participants will leave with strategies and techniques for nurturing stronger mentoring relationships, which have been shown to enhance one’s sense of belonging and self-efficacy for early-career scholars.

Objectives

By participating in this course, you will: 

• As a mentee: gain foundational skills in mentoring up, i.e. proactively engaging with your primary faculty mentor/advisor/PI in the areas of communication, aligning expectations, soliciting feedback, and growing your mentoring network  
• As a peer mentor/mentee: learn how to develop intentional relationships with your peers and practice leadership and networking skills in a safe and brave environment
• As a mentor: prepare to enter and/or enhance formal mentoring relationships by addressing the areas of communication, aligning expectations, and inclusive mentoring practices so that you can develop a mentoring philosophy
• Create a comprehensive Mentoring Action Plan (MAP) from self-reflection exercises and interactive discussions, which provides specific action steps to develop productive relationships with mentors, mentees, and peers

Instructors

• Steve Lee, assistant dean of inclusion; principal facilitator with CIMER
• Joseph Brown, assistant dean of inclusion, outreach, and recruitment