Best Practices for Mentors and Scholars

The AERE mentoring program aims to engage a diverse group of early career environmental and natural resource economists in AERE while providing invaluable career guidance, skill development, and networking opportunities. We envision that because of this program AERE will exhibit substantially greater diversity and will help make economics a field that is respected both for its contributions to addressing the world's problems and for embracing an inclusive culture. After reviewing a number of resources (cited below), we identified the following commonly acknowledged best practices for mentors and mentees and added input from mentors and scholars participating in the AERE Scholars Program.

Mentors | Scholars

Mentors

The best practices for AERE Scholar Program are for mentors to:

  1. Establish norms for meeting frequency and structure
    1. Emphasize a shared responsibility for success (i.e. the mentee should set agendas once relationship is established, the mentor and mentee should jointly determine what success looks like)
  2. Agree on goals by working with the mentee/scholar on individual development plan (IDP)
    1. Acknowledge that the mentor will not know everything and will seek additional input when appropriate.
  3. Rely on the mentor pods and resulting peer mentoring to generate ideas and support networks
  4. Understand that professional and personal circumstances are not separable
    1. Emphasize the creation of a supportive environment to help build a more diverse and inclusive culture
    2. Emphasize success holistically with attention to professional accomplishment and overall life satisfaction
    3. Communicate that there is risk and reward in giving and acting on advice, but encouragement and advocacy are always net positive

The mentoring best practices according to our starting point (Nick et al 2012) are as follows:

  1. Achieve Appropriately Matched Mentors and Mentees. There is evidence that having mentees and/or mentors provide input results in better match outcomes. We paired administratively using 
    1. specified criteria (research/teaching interest, background, and professional aspirations)
    2. mentee indicators of the “ideal mentor”
  2. Establish Clear Mentorship Purpose and Goals. The Individual Development Plan (IDP) will outline
    1. expectations
    2. time commitments
    3. long and short-term goals for the program and mentee career.
  3. Solidify the Mentor-Mentee Relationship.
    1. create collegiality
    2. listen reflectively
    3. establish regular communication
    4. exchange regular feedback from mentor and mentee
    5. build a supportive environment
    6. have the mentee set up the meeting agendas
    7. build trust (i.e. use openings and closings for your meetings among other things)
  4. Advocate for and Guide the Mentee.
    1. provide psychosocial support
    2. achieve life balance
    3. advise on career progression.
  5. Integrate the Mentee into the Academic Culture.

Scholars

  1. Work with your mentor to establish clear purpose, expectations, and goals for your mentor- mentee relationship, including
    1. expectations for each other
    2. time commitments and frequency of communication
    3. reciprocity (i.e. take an interest in your mentor, ask how/what they are doing)
    4. confidentiality and the extent to which confidentiality can and will be secured
    5. be proactive, ask questions.
  2. Identify your individual goals and professional needs, and discuss specific ways that your mentor can provide support.
    1. create an individual development plan (IDP) and discuss specific ways your mentor can support your professional growth (deadlines help)
    2. update your IDP
    3. identify personal and professional goals
    4. establish personal and professional goals in the short- medium- and long-run, and discuss how your mentor can support you in achieving them.
    5. identify your professional needs and discuss them with your mentor.
    6. be reflective, share your experiences and challenges
    7. additionality: identity one thing you would not do without this program
  3. Solidify the mentoring relationship by communicating regularly and exchanging feedback
    1. create collegiality
    2. listen reflectively
    3. establish regular communication
    4. exchange regular feedback between mentor and mentee
    5. build a supportive environment
    6. build trust (i.e. use openings and closings for your meetings among other things)
    7. share ideas across mentor-mentee groups (Slack or other platform)
    8. pool/source questions with other mentees
  4. The mentee/scholar should drive the mentoring relationship
    1. set the meeting agendas and share the agenda in advance of the meeting
    2. actively seeking advice
    3. ask questions

References

  • Baich, Tina. Elements of Good Mentoring. IUPUI Mentoring Symposium, Indianapolis, IN, November 27, 2018. https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/handle/1805/17829
  • Nick, J.M., T.M. Delahoyde, D. Del Prato, C. Mitchell, J. Ortiz, C. Ottley, P. Young, S.B. Cannon, K. Lasater, D. Reising, and L. Siktberg. 2012. “Best Practices in Academic Mentoring: A Model for Excellence.” Nursing Research and Practice 2012:1–9.
  • University of Michigan. 2012. “How to Get the Mentoring You Want: A Guide for Graduate Students.” Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan. Ann Arbor. https://rackham.umich.edu/downloads/student-mentoring-handbook.pdf

Resources

Co-created with the 2021 AERE Scholars, May 2021
AERE Scholars Program Committee: Jill Caviglia-Harris (chair), Nathan Chan, Mary Evans, Lynne Lewis, Dan Phaneuf