Benefits of Mentorship
Please review the following video, to learn about the many benefits of a mentorship.
A mentoring relationship doesn’t only benefit the mentee – as a mentor, you benefit as well! Previous research exploring the benefits of mentoring undergraduate students has suggested that there are a few common socio-emotional, interpersonal, and professional gains for graduate student mentors (Dolan & Johnson 2009; Reddick, Griffin, Cherwitz, Cérda-Pražák & Bunch, 2012).
In the video, Shawn and Lisa highlighted improvements in their ability to teach and communicate with others, as well as intellectual growth more broadly. By mentoring undergraduate students, mentors are often challenged to answer insightful questions, reflect on their practices, solidify and expand their existing knowledge, and support new learning.
Outside of skill development, research also suggests that mentoring undergraduate students can enhance the mentor’s research productivity. Having more support to complete projects can mean projects getting done quicker, and more projects get done, period!
Whether you plan to explore academic or industry positions following your degree, many jobs require the ability to mentor others. Your experience as a mentor can be included in a teaching portfolio and on your curriculum vitae where appropriate. Consider including the name of the mentee, the project they worked on/position they held (if applicable), as well as testimonials of their experience working with you as a mentor.
Reflection Activity
Based on the many benefits of mentorship discussed in this section, please consider:
- What is one benefit to a mentor and one benefit to a mentee that resonates most with you?
If you would like to share your response, check out the interactive activity below. You can click on the plus sign in the bottom right corner to add a response. This is not an assessed component of this workshop, rather an opportunity for you and your peers to reflect and share. Point-form is perfectly acceptable, and your response will remain anonymous.
