In recent years, mentor has become a buzzword in higher education. Throughout my master’s program, and during my time as a student affairs educator, I often heard peers and colleagues speak about their mentors—faculty members, supervisors, or other individuals who had played a significant role in their professional preparation. In these instances, I always quietly wondered what it was all about. After all, I didn’t really feel like I had a mentor. What level of guidance and support warranted such a title? What degree of expertise and experience equipped someone to fulfill such a role? Most importantly, how exactly did one go about finding a mentor?
I have been fortunate to uncover the answers to these questions during my time in the HEA program at NC State. In the capstone class of our master’s program (for which I served as a teaching colleague) we discussed responsibilities of mentors emphasized in the higher education literature: facilitating socialization of students and professionals into new environments; sharing effective approaches to research and practice; encouraging career development; offering lessons learned from personal experiences; and providing encouragement in the face of emotional challenges (Tull, 2009). Clarifying these roles helped me better understand the level of commitment and intentionality required to cultivate an impactful mentor relationship.
Our program has also opened my eyes to the many types of mentor relationships that can exist across diverse professional paths and career stages. Members of the HEA faculty model traditional mentorship on a daily basis by drawing from their myriad experiences as student affairs educators, researchers, and academicians to enhance our development as scholar-practitioners. Opportunities also abound to seek mentors from our growing network of alumni, comprised of new and seasoned professionals alike, and inclusive of many higher education leaders right here in the Triangle. Our alumni possess a wealth of knowledge gleaned from various institutional settings and functional areas, and serve as conduits to a larger community of professional colleagues. Finally, the Higher Education Association’s Pack Pals peer mentor program encourages us to learn with and from fellow students as a means for building community and facilitating student success within the HEA program.
The final question yet to be answered is how to establish a mentor relationship. Most of us can probably identify individuals who have shepherded us on our professional journeys, and yet they are often not characterized as mentors. How might we transform these relationships into formal mentorships? Thanks to my own mentor experiences at NC State, I now realize the first step is simply to ask. Reach out to colleagues who know you best and ask if they are willing to play a more active role in your professional development. Next, spend some time discussing mutual expectations and responsibilities. If it turns out that a mentor relationship isn’t feasible with someone you already know, begin laying the groundwork for future mentorships with others. Above all, be strategic and capitalize on the opportunities available to you. For those of us at NC State, such opportunities are plentiful…we just need to seize them! Doing so will keep our higher education program buzzing with the energy and excitement of mentorships for years to come.
References
Tull, A. (2009). Supervision and mentorship in the socialization process. In A. Tull, J. B. Hirt, & S. Saunders (Eds.), Becoming socialized in student affairs administration: A guide for new professionals and their supervisors (129-151). Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
Shauna Morin is a doctoral student in the Educational Research and Policy Analysis program with a Specialization in Higher Education Administration. Shauna serves as the Graduate Assistant for the Higher Education Program at NC State and is a Doctoral Liaison for the Higher Education Association.