Mentoring is a well-established practice for promoting professional development in education and business. In higher education, mentoring programs are recognized as a valuable tool for recruitment, retention, and advancement of graduate students and faculty, as well as an aid to greater inclusivity and diversity.
There is a vast literature on mentoring – ranging from scholarly and academic studies to individual reports of specific programs or experiences – and encompassing programs for elementary school educators through senior managers in business.
The “Mentoring and Coaching: Annotated Bibliography” presents some brief and readily accessible articles and books for those in higher education who are interested in the subject of mentoring, thinking of establishing a program, or who are (or will be) partners in mentoring teams.
This “Mentoring and Coaching: Additional References” presents additional resources for those who wish to learn more about mentoring and coaching in higher education, again with a focus on mentoring in STEM fields.
Overviews of Mentoring
The following are comprehensive, thorough surveys that provide an introduction to many topics relating to mentoring. The books are edited by, or contain chapters by, leading experts in the field. They provide good starting points for detailed coverage of scholarship, research, and practice of mentoring.
Allen, T. D., & Eby, L. T. (Eds.). (2007). The Blackwell handbook of mentoring: A multiple perspectives approach. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
English, F. W. (Ed.). (2011). The SAGE handbook of educational leadership: Advances in theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA.
Fletcher, S. J., & Mullen, C. A. (2012). The Sage handbook of mentoring and coaching in education. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Kram, K. E. (1988). Mentoring at work: Developmental relationships in organizational life (2nd ed.). Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
Mullen, C. A. (Ed.) (2008). The handbook of formal mentoring in higher education: A case study approach. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.
Mullen, C. A. (2005). Mentorship primer. New York, NY: Peter Lang.
Phillips, S. L., and Dennis, S . T. (2015) Faculty mentoring: A practical manual for mentors, mentees, administrators, and faculty developers. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
Ragins, B. R., & Kram, K. E. (2007). The handbook of mentoring at work: Theory, research, and practice. Los Angeles, CA, Sage.
For Mentors
For mentors (or those about to become ones), the following resources provide excellent guides for being effective mentors.
Brent, M., & Dent, F. E. (2015). The leader’s guide to coaching and mentoring: How to use soft skills to get hard results. Harlow, UK: Pearson.
Johnson, W. B. (2016). On being a mentor: A guide for higher education faculty (2nd edn.) New York, NY: Routledge.
Lee, A., Dennis, C. & Campbell, P. (2007, June 14). Nature’s guide for mentors. Nature, 447, 791– 797. Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v447/n7146/full/447791a.html
Miara, J., & Lundguist, J. (2017, 15 June). Key factors in successful student mentoring. Inside Higher Education. Retrieved from: https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2017/06/15/how-individual-faculty-members-well-their-institutions-should-mentor-students
Misra, J., & Lundquist, J. (2017, 24 August). What do the best mentors do? Inside Higher Education. Retrieved from: https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2017/08/24/lessons-about-mentoring-those-who-do-it-best-essay
Taylor, R. T., & Chanter, C. (2016). The coaching partnership: Tips for improving coach, mentor, teacher, and administrator effectiveness. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Wisker, G., Exley, K., Antoniou, M., & Ridley, P., with Morris, C. (2008). Working one-to-one with students: Supervising, coaching, mentoring, and personal tutoring. New York, NY: Routledge.
Zachary, L. J. (2012). The mentor’s guide: Facilitating effective learning relationships (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
For Students and Mentees
For those who are seeking out a mentor or who are already in a mentoring relationship, the following resources provide guidance on how to make the most of a mentor partnership.
Association of American Medical Colleges. Compact between Biomedical Graduate Students and Their Research Advisors. Website: https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/research/gradcompact/
Association of American Medical Colleges. Compact Between Postdoctoral Appointees and Their Mentors. Website: https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/research/postdoccompact/
Bonaparte, B. & Baldasty, J. (2009, July 15). Finding mentors. Inside Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2009/07/15/finding-mentors
Cole, Nicolas. 3 ways to attract the mentor you truly want. (2017, 30 December). Retrieved from https://medium.com/personal-growth/3-ways-to-attract-the-mentor-you-truly-want-46e5a6dc87fd.
Eswara, P. (2017, March 13). Questions to ask before choosing a mentor. Inside Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2017/03/13/questions-ask-when-selecting-mentor-and-trying-nurture-mentoring-relationship.
Mullen, C. A. (2006). A graduate student guide: Making the most of mentoring. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. [Has many ‘real-world’ case analyses.]
STEM and Diversity
The following resources discuss mentoring in its role as a means to recruit and retain students, and especially women and underrepresented ethnic groups in STEM fields.
Byars-Winston, A. , Gutierrez, B., Topo, S., & Carnes, M. (2011). Integrating theory and practice to increase scientific workforce diversity: A framework for career development in graduate research training. American Society for Cell Biology. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3228654/
Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy. (1997). Advisor, teacher, role model, friend: On being a mentor to students in science and engineering. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Kochan, F. K., & Pascarelli, J. T. (2003). Global perspectives on mentoring: Transforming contexts, communities, and cultures. Greenwich, CN: Information Age.
Moody, J. (2012). Faculty mentoring: Replacing dysfunctional practices with good practices. In J. Moody, Faculty diversity: Removing the barriers (2nd ed.; pp. 158-191). New York, NY: Routledge, 2012.
Murrell, A. J., & Blake-Beard, S. (2017). Mentoring diverse leaders: Creating change for people, processes, and paradigms. New York, NY: Routledge
Nakamura, J., & Shernoff, D. J., & Hooker, C. H. (2009). Good mentoring: Fostering excellent practice in higher education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass/John Wiley, 2009.
Pfund, C., Branchaw, J. L., & Handelsman, J. (2015). Entering mentoring (revised ed.) . W. H. Freeman/Macmillan Learning.
Turner, C. S. V., & González, J. C. (2015). Modeling mentoring across race/ethnicity and gender. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Mentoring Alternatives
Alternative forms of mentoring, instead of the traditional one-on-one, master-apprentice model, are described (along with the advantages their advocates see for them over tradition forms), in the following resources.
Gottesman, B. L. (2009). Peer coaching in higher education. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Higgins, M. & Kram, K. (2001, April). Reconceptualizing mentoring at work: A developmental network perspective. Academy of Management Executive, pp. 264-288.
Janasz, S. C., Sullivan, S. E., & Whiting, V. (2003, November). Mentor networks and career success: Lessons for turbulent times. Academy of Management Executive, pp. 79-91.
Mullen, C. A., & Tuten, E. M. Doctoral cohort mentoring: Interdependence, collaborative learning, and cultural change. Scholar-Practitioner Quarterly, 4, 11-32.
Web Resources
Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER). Website: https://www.cimerproject.org/#/
This website provides an entrée into the resources provided by the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research, which is direct at those in STEM fields. Topics of their resources include training, consulting, curricula, evaluation, and additional publications.
American Psychological Association (2006). Introduction to Mentoring: A Guide for Mentors and Mentees. Website: http://www.apa.org/education/grad/mentoring.aspx
This online guide prepared by American Psychological Association briefly surveys major topics relating to mentoring: definition, stages, forms of mentoring, types of mentors, mentoring etiquette, and ethics.
Graduate Mentoring Guidebook. Office of Graduate Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Website: https://www.unl.edu/mentoring/introduction
This guide prepared by the Office of Graduate Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is aimed at students in graduate education. The guide aims to inform graduate students about the concepts, planning, strategies, and tools that contribute to a meaningful mentoring relationship. Discusses basic concepts, mentoring needs, common concerns, and mentoring needs in a diverse community
Mentoring & Advising. Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan. Website: http://www.rackham.umich.edu/faculty-staff/information-for-programs/academic-success/mentoring-advising
This site prepared by the Rackham Graduate School, University Michigan, has only guidebooks for both faculty and students. It also contain a “quick tips” document, examples of programs at the University of Michigan, and a very extensive list of resources available at other universities and organizations.
National College for Teaching & Leadership. Mentoring and Coaching: Core Skills. Website: https://www.nationalcollege.org.uk/transfer/open/mentoring-and-coaching-core-skills/mccore-s02/mccore-s02-t03.html
This website developed by the National College for Teaching & Leadership (UK) describes a national CEDAR (contract, explore, deepen, act, review) framework for mentoring and coaching. The website has online modules for covering the five basic elements of mentoring and coaching
National Research Mentoring Network. Website: https://nrmnet.net/mentor-landing-page/what-is-a-mentorcoach/attributes-of-an-effective-mentor/
This website is an introduction to the National Research Mentoring Network, a nationwide association of biomedical professionals and institutions. The consortium collaborates to provide all trainees across the biomedical, behavioral, clinical and social sciences with evidence-based programming to further mentorship and professional development.