Advisers and Mentors

The roles of advisers and mentors are often confused. Both will play important roles in your career at Penn State. While every graduate student should have an adviser, there will hopefully be significant mentors along your journey as well. We encourage you to seek out both advisers and mentors.  

Advisers

An adviser will provide assistance on program and degree requirements, monitor your academic progress, and guide you through your program of study. Graduate students are typically assigned faculty advisers in their major areas of study who will assist them with planning first-year courses. Advisers will also supervise research for those in research degrees.

Mentors

The role of a mentor goes beyond that of an adviser. A mentor will support your personal and professional growth, development, and success, and can serve as a role model, guide, teacher, and sponsor. However, mentoring relationships are reciprocal and reliant on effective communication between both the mentor and mentee. This means that you must be an active partner – mentoring is not something that happens to you, but something in which you and your mentor are active participants.

We all have strengths and weaknesses, so an individual who is a great mentor in one area might not be as good a mentor in another area. We encourage you to think about the areas in which you would benefit from a mentor - whether that is doing research, writing manuscripts, finding a career path, or figuring out how to navigate the psychosocial aspects of your field. Build a mentoring team or network with individuals who have expertise in different areas that can support you on your journey at Penn State.

You will put in time and hard work to succeed as a graduate student. Having a mentor (or mentors) to support you will enrich that journey, helping you through the rough patches and celebrating the triumphs along the way. As you experience such mentoring relationships, keep in mind that things will come full circle. You might have the chance to become a mentor yourself to undergraduates or beginning graduate students during your time at Penn State, and most certainly as you move forward in your career beyond Penn State.

 

Finding a Mentor - When and Why (0:46 seconds)

Building Your Own Team (0:40 seconds)

Ask for Help (0:54 seconds)