Mentoring activities

I put a premium on mentoring of students and junior colleagues, both in official and unofficial contexts.  I believe that mentoring needs to be holistic and adapted to the needs of the individual.  I think that mentoring needs to be proactive, and not reactive.  Departmental, Institutional, and Disciplinary Structures should be built up to provide a broad array of supports for students and colleagues.  I have tried to implement these at KU.  I was the Departmental Graduate Advisor for two years and the Director of Graduate Studies for nine years.  In those roles I formally mentored a large number of students in our department.  In addition, I run an inclusive and supportive research group, that puts the needs of the students first.

For these efforts I received the Louise E. Byrd Graduate Educator Award from the University of Kansas.

In my research group, which includes undergrads, I also put mentoring front and center.  My students complete individualized development plans (inspired by Prof. Allison Kirkpatrick) every semester.  We regularly talk about development and undertake activities such as building communication skills and mentoring networks.