Mentoring and Advising

Being an effective graduate mentor or advisor is a crucial role in supporting UNC Charlotte graduate students. The resources listed below can help you improve your effectiveness as a mentor and an advisor.

Tools for mentors

Mentoring Compacts:  These are agreements that state specific expectations for mentees. Compacts are most useful for mentee groups, such as students in a lab setting. These agreements can be shared with a group of students at the beginning of the working relationship. Download this example.

Individual Development Plans (IDP): Individual Development Plans are similar to compacts in that they include specific expectations for the mentee, but IDPs go beyond general expectations. These plans are tailored to the individual student and layout a roadmap for the development throughout their program and beyond. IDPs are intended to be updated annually. These documents are developed collaboratively between the mentee and mentor, and should reflect the career path targeted by the mentee.  Download this IDP template which has been designed for UNC Charlotte, but can be tailored as needed.

Graduate School Mentor Training:  Provided by the Graduate School, sessions are held throughout the year.  These intensive, day-long sessions are based on the practices of the CIMER Institute. View the Mentor Training web page for information.


Online sources

Mentoring Resources for Faculty and Mentees

The University of Wisconsin Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research offers a wide range of resources and tools for improving mentoring.  Materials are grouped by level and discipline, creating a “curriculum” for mentoring.

Faculty Guide to Mentoring Graduate Students

This faculty guide was created by the University of Hawaii at Manoa and discusses the importance of mentoring graduate students.  It also includes self-assessments and checklists that mentors can use.

Faculty/Staff Toolkit for Mentoring Graduate Students

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign created this helpful toolkit that shows how to set expectations, provide constructive feedback and more.

Great Mentoring in Graduate School: A quick start guide for protégés

This guide by Laura Gail Lunsford and Vicki L. Baker provides a practical, student-oriented perspective informed by the authors’ experience and research on mentoring. The guide covers topics such as identifying a mentor, engaging with mentors to develop a professional identity, cultivating networks, and serving as a mentor to others.

How to Mentor Graduate Students: A Guide for Faculty

In addition to providing general suggestions for good mentoring practice, this handbook from Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan explores some of the special challenges and rewards of advising an increasingly diverse graduate student population.

Mentoring and Advising

From the Ph.D. Completion Project of the Council of Graduate Schools, this source explores the distinctions between mentoring and advising and identifies specific practices for mentoring graduate students.

Mentoring: A Guide for Faculty

For both an understanding of the mentoring role and step-by-step strategies, this guide from the University of Washington Graduate School addresses mentoring for international students and students with disabilities, and the role that age and experience, race and ethnicity, and disadvantaged socioeconomic background plays in determining student success.

The Impact of Racism

Racism and bias are significant reasons Black Americans are underrepresented in the fields of science, engineering, and medicine.  This resource identifies "key levers, drivers, and disruptors in government, industry, health care and higher education where actions can have the most impact on increasing the participation of Black men and Black women in science, medicine, and engineering."


Journal Articles and Publications

Best Practices

Diversity Awareness in Mentoring 

Mentoring Roles and Relationships

Ethics and Authorship

Downloadable Resources