What is mentorship?

Generally speaking, a mentor is a wise and patient guide who you trust. In an academic setting mentors often nurture students as emerging academic professionals, researchers and scholars, but the nature of the mentoring relationship is entirely the purview of the mentor and mentee to establish. Mentorship is a relationship that cultivates competencies and confidence toward independence, not just specific skills. It is, at its core, both a relationship and a developmental process that facilitates one’s ability to thrive in a particular context or environment.

Mentorship can be applied in any setting. You will likely have many many mentors throughout your lifetime, across multiple domains: Teachers, coaches, parents, gardeners, cooks, researchers, executives, athletes, public speakers…(the list is endless)…all speak highly of mentors in their fields. In fact, you may have several different mentors at the same time for different things. For graduate students, having access to positive mentorship is essential to the development of professional capabilities for the classroom, bench work, thesis writing, and beyond.

Mentorship is an open, reciprocal relationship, not a dictatorship. The relationship is established in a collaborative fashion, with the needs and boundaries of both parties clearly stated. The mentor and the mentee must share equally in fostering and maintaining the relationship.