This document provides 4 case studies related to addressing diversity in mentoring relationships: 1) A professor wonders whether to ask their former minority mentee about their experiences as the only minority in the department. 2) A student notices their professor provides more mentoring to male students and wonders how to develop a stronger relationship. 3) A professor is unsure how to handle a situation where a student is receiving unwanted attention from another student. 4) A professor is having trouble communicating with a minority mentee and wonders if assigning a graduate student to provide more mentoring would help. The case studies are meant to catalyze discussion on handling diverse mentoring relationships and cultural differences.

1. Addressing Diversity in
Mentoring Relationships
through Case Studies
Steve Lee, PhD
Graduate Diversity Officer
for the STEM Disciplines
Leadership Alliance – Faculty Retreat
on Mentoring Diverse Scholars
at Hunter College
April 29, 2016

2. Small group discussions (~30 min)
introduce yourself
discuss at least 2 case studies
Whole group discussions (~30 min)
Interactive workshop on mentoring
(~60 min)
2
Overall Agenda
Part I
Part II

3. 1. When you first began doing research, what
was your experience like? What did you
enjoy? What were some challenges?
2. As you started in research, was there a
positive mentor or leader who influenced
you?
a. List 3 words (items) that best describe what this
person contributed to your life
b. Share your 3 words and stories of your mentor
3
Part II: Group Discussion #1

4. What exactly is mentoring?
Traditional Mentoring
4
MentorMentee
Instructions,
advice, etc

5. Any other aspects of mentoring?
The peer mentor is a “servant-leader”
5
Peer Peer Peer

6. Any other aspects of mentoring?
The mentee learns to “mentor up”
6
Questions,
input, etc
MentorMentee

7. Can we incorporate all these aspects?
7
“mentoring up”
peer mentoring
“servant-leader”
traditional mentoring
“Entering Mentoring”
Mentoring 360 is
developing full circles
of relationships with
• mentees,
• peers, &
• mentors
through all your
career stages

8. Entering Mentoring Curriculum:
key principles
1. Communication
2. Aligning expectations
3. Assessing
understanding
4. Ethics
8
Handelsman, Pfund, Branchaw, etc at U of WI
Entering Mentoring and Entering Research
5. Addressing equity and
inclusion
6. Fostering independence
7. Promoting professional
development

9. In communication, it’s critical to be
aware of your preferences
Critical to develop metacognitive skills
Self-assessments can significantly improve
self-awareness
Myers-Briggs type indicators (MBTI)
StrengthsFinder
journaling
Suggestion: take the MBTI test with your
mentee and discuss
9
Suggestion:

10. Four dichotomies of the MBTI
10
How do you prefer:
to relate to people?
to gather information?
to make decisions?
to relate to the outside
world?
Extroverts or E-types
Introverts or I-types
Sensors or S-types
Intuitors or N-types
Thinkers or T-types
Feelers or F-types
Judgers or J-types
Perceivers or P-types

11. Common Misconceptions of MBTI
“I can’t function as my opposite type”
preference ≠ ability
“If I know someone’s types, I can predict (or
manipulate) their behavior.”
knowing their MB types only gives a framework
to understand them
“I need to find people with the same types to
be productive”
complementary strengths can help your
weaknesses and avoid blind spots
11

12. What do mentees need?
A Gallup survey of 10,000 people asked:
What leader has the most positive influence in your daily life?
List 3 words that best describe what this person contributes
to your life.
12
Followers’ Four Basic Needs:
security, strength, support, peace
caring, friendship, happiness, love
honesty, integrity, respect
direction, faith, guidance, initiating
Trust
Compassion
Stability
Hope

13. Aligning expectations is especially
important at the start
Group exercise
Read Questionnaire for Aligning Expectations
Reply to statements #1, 3, 4, 7, 9
Suggestion: complete this questionnaire and ask
your mentee to complete
This can help communicate your expectations
Suggestion: write a mentoring compact
13
Suggestion:
Suggestion:

14. To help align expectations,
create & apply SMART goals
14
Use as many principles as possible:
Specific – what are the specific details?
Measurable – how will we measure or evaluate it?
Assignable – who’s in charge of what?
Relevant – does this relate to our vision & purpose?
Timely – when does each task need to be done?

15. Handelsman, et al, PNAS, 2012.
Science faculty rated a student (male or female) for a lab manager.
15
In addressing diversity, be aware of
our unconscious biases
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
Competence Hireability Mentoring Likability
Male Student
Female Student

16. Handelsman, et al, PNAS, 2012.
Science faculty rated a student (male or female) for a lab manager.
16
In addressing diversity, be aware of
our unconscious biases
Competence
rating
male
student
female
student
male faculty 4.01 3.33
female faculty 4.1 3.32
We all have
unconscious biases

17. 17
Be aware of our unconscious biases
Milkman, et al, 2015.
6,500 faculty were emailed by fictional prospective grad students
identical emails with different names
Discipline
% Responding
to White Men
% Responding to
Women and Minorities
Difference
Business 87% 62% 25
Education 86% 65% 21
Human services 89% 71% 18
Health services 71% 57% 14
Engineering and
computer science
72% 59% 13
Life sciences 72% 61% 11
Natural and physical
sciences and math
73% 64% 9
Social sciences 75% 68% 7
Humanities 80% 75% 5
Fine arts 62% 73% -11

18. Milkman reported these surprises:
18
Be aware of our unconscious biases
Were Asians favored (model minority stereotype)?
No. Chinese students were the most discriminated against.
Did reaching out to faculty of same gender or race reduce bias?
No. Same levels of bias in same race and gender faculty-
student pairs (except Chinese student-faculty pairs).
Did it help to be in a discipline with more women and
minorities?
No. Faculty in more diverse disciplines were no less likely to
discriminate than in less diverse disciplines.
Seek to understand and minimize unconscious biases

19. Google: Making the Unconscious Conscious 19
Why do we have unconscious
biases?

20. To foster independence, note that
mentoring relationships evolve
Mentee becomes more engaged and independent
20
Mentee’s
Contribution
Mentor’s
Contribution
Progress
Your relationship is not static

21. To foster independence, note that
mentoring relationships evolve
Mentee becomes more engaged and independent
21
Mentee’s
Contribution
Mentor’s
Contribution
Progress
mentor busy
writing proposal
mentor
micromanages
mentee prepares
for quals
This is a more
realistic graph

22. Mentors/mentees can become peer mentors
22
Supervisor:
Steve
Grad Student
Researcher:
Kathy
Peer:
Steve
Peer:
Kathy
Past Current
Director of Strategic
Initiatives & Research
at AISES
To foster independence, note that
mentoring relationships evolve

23. 23
“mentoring up”
peer mentoring
“servant-leader”
Mentoring 360:
traditional mentoring
“Entering Mentoring”
involves
encouraging &
equipping
mentees
to “mentor up”

24. Mentoring up is:
24
Questions,
input, etc
MentorMentee
the mentee learning to pro-actively
manage their mentoring relationship

25. Based upon original concept of:
“Managing Up”
25
Gabarro and Kotter, Harvard Business Review, 1980.
Questions,
input, etc
Manager Boss

26. What skills are essential in
pro-actively managing relationships?
26
Gabarro and Kotter point to 2 essential steps
in managing up:
1. assess yourself
and the other
accurately
2. apply this assessment
to develop a mutually
beneficial relationship

27. Why is self-assessment so important?
Recent update:
“We are All Confident
Idiots” Dunning, 2014
27
Dunning and Kruger, 1999 and 2003
0
20
40
60
80
100
Bottom
quartile
2nd
quartile
3rd
quartile
Top
quartile
%
Actual Test Score
Perceived Test Score
Because research shows we don’t self-assess accurately

28. Why is self-assessment so important?
Because self-awareness leads to better team performance
28
Teams with less self-aware members made worse decisions,
engaged in less coordination, & showed less conflict management.
PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS
DECISION
QUALITY
COORDINATION CONFLICT
MANAGEMENT
Dierdorff & Rubin, March 2015 HBR.ORG
High self-
awareness
teams
Low self-
awareness
teams
32%
68%
27%
73%
35%
65%

29. 29
supervisors
employees
peerspeers
360 feedback involves
seeking assessment
from your full circle of
supervisors, peers,
and employees,
including yourself
Why is self-assessment so important?
Because 360 feedback starts by assessing yourself
yourself

30. 30
To mentor up, one must
assess
apply
assess yourself
& others
accurately
apply your
assessments
strategically
&

31. How do we assess ourselves?
How do we apply our assessment in
mentoring relationships?
31
Please refer to the handout: pages 9-10
Complete the individual and group activities
Group Discussion #2

32. Mentoring up involves both:
Engaging pro-actively
act with confidence
seek to understand
your mentor’s
expectations
communicate your goals
and expectations
32
Following respectfully
practice “follow-ship”
actively listen
determine and fulfill
your responsibilities
adapt to your mentor’s
needs
&

33. Mentoring up is NOT
False-flattery
33
Manipulating your mentor

34. Suggested Action Items
Assess yourself and your peer mentee’s
preferences & needs
Myers-Briggs types, etc (see Sedlock handout)
trust, compassion, stability, & hope
Discuss your expectations explicitly
use Questionnaire for Aligning Expectations
provide a mentoring compact
use SMART goals
Seek to understand and minimize
unconscious biases
34

35. Suggested Action Items
Help them gain independence
connect them to other potential mentors
help them build a team of mentors; don’t monopolize
Encourage and equip them to mentor up
help them assess themselves
this will help you be aware of your mentoring
preferences
Assess your own mentoring skills
Mentoring Competency Assessment
Fleming, Michael, et al; Academic Medicine, 201
35

36. Mentoring 360
36
The vision
is to grow
mentoring
communities
through all
career stages

37. Thanks for your participation!
37
What from this session has helped?
What action items will you do?
Do you have any remaining questions?
!
!
?

38. 1
Addressing Diversity in Mentoring
Relationships through Case Studies
Leadership Alliance – Faculty Retreat on Mentoring
Diverse Scholars
Hunter College
April 29, 2016
Steve Lee, PhD
Graduate Diversity Officer for the
STEM Disciplines at UC Davis
stnlee@ucdavis.edu
Part I: Case Studies – Reading Assignment
Please read the following case studies before attending the workshop. We will discuss some of these
case studies, however we probably won’t have sufficient time to address them all. Thus it will help to at
least scan these and determine which case studies that you’d like to discuss during the group discussions.
Reading these in advance will also help you to start thinking how you might address some of the
challenges.
Most of the case studies are based upon real situations, and other sources are noted below. Although
you might not encounter the exact situations yourself, this activity is meant to catalyze conversations
around related issues, so that you can share similar situations and your favorite practices, and to ask
further questions.
#1 – Wondering whether to ask (adapted from Entering Mentoring, p 69)
● Last summer I worked with a fantastic undergraduate mentee. She was very intelligent and generated
a fair amount of data directly relevant to my thesis project. I think that she had a positive summer
research experience, but there are a few questions that still linger in my mind. This particular mentee
was an African-American woman from a small town. I always wondered how she felt on a big urban
campus. I also wondered how she felt about being the only African-American woman in our lab. In
fact, she was the only African-American woman in our entire department that summer. I wanted to
ask her how she felt, but I worried that it might be insensitive or politically incorrect to do so. I never
asked. I still wonder how she felt and how those feelings may have affected her experience. I also
wasn’t sure whether to ask because I’m a white, female professor, and I just didn’t know how she
would respond to these types of questions.
○ Have you encountered a similar situation when you mentored a student from a particular cultural
background that was different from your own (in terms of race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic
status, sexual orientation, etc), and wondered about their experiences as a member of those
groups? Did you directly address issues related to their cultural background? If so, did this
happen organically, or did you approach it intentionally? Did you find this valuable?
○ Have you personally encountered a similar situation where you were the “only” (in terms of
race/ethnicity, etc)? Would you have wanted to talk about this with your faculty? If so, under
what circumstances?

39. 2
#2 – Equitable mentoring for different students (from Steve Lee)
● Wendy has recently joined a lab, and started to observe how her PI (John) interacts with others. She
notices that he seems really comfortable with other men, but seems to be more awkward with the
women students and colleagues. She hears indirectly that he often has “urinal conversations” with the
men in his group, so that the male students seem to benefit from more mentoring and guidance than
what she receives. Wendy wants to develop a stronger relationship with her PI, but doesn’t want to
send wrong signals, given his awkward behavior around women.
○ What would you recommend for Wendy, so that she receives more mentoring for her academic
and research needs?
○ If you are the PI for a research group, how do you work to provide equitable mentoring to your
students, while at the same time respecting their different needs and preferences? Feel free to
share your favorite practices, other similar situations, and questions.
# 3 – Handling interpersonal relationships among students (from Steve Lee)
● Mary has recently joined a research group, and starts to notice that another student (Miguel) in a
neighboring lab has been giving her a lot of attention, which has started to make her feel
uncomfortable. She tries to distance herself from him, but finds it difficult because their research labs
are on the same floor and their department is small.
● Mary tells her PI (David) of the situation, and says that she is becoming uncomfortable, and that it has
been affecting her productivity in the lab. David is uncertain how to handle the situation, especially
because he’s appreciated Miguel’s friendliness in welcoming new members in the department. Also,
David wonders if there’s been some miscommunication or misinterpretation of culturally different
norms, because Mary is Asian-American and Miguel is Mexican-American. David hasn’t observed any
behavior that he considers inappropriate, and is concerned that talking with Miguel about the
situation might embarrass him and cause him to be less friendly. David also reasons that he can’t
control the interpersonal behavior of students, especially those outside of his research group. He
suggests that Mary go to the sexual harassment office, but wonders what more he should do.
○ What might you recommend to David, the PI? Do you think he should talk directly with Miguel,
or perhaps with Miguel’s PI first?
○ If you are the PI of a research group, have you encountered similar situations where problems or
conflicts arose between members of your research group? Feel free to share your experiences,
and how you addressed the challenges.
#4 – Different communication styles (from Steve Lee)
● Joseph has recently accepted Vanessa (an undergraduate student) into his lab for the summer, and
has noticed that he’s been having trouble communicating with her. This is particularly frustrating for
Joseph, because he feels that he’s patient and a good listener with most students. He has weekly
meetings with Vanessa, where she gives an update on her research project, shares about her progress
and problems, and even shares about her personal and social life on campus. But occasionally she will
ask him a particular question that surprises him, because her questions reveal that she didn’t

40. 3
understand the main purpose of the research project. She also seems to focus on minor tasks without
focusing on higher priorities. Joseph just wishes that she would listen more carefully to him, so that
they can work more effectively together, especially given the limited time in the summer. She takes
notes during their meetings, but he doesn’t see significant improvements of her understanding. He’s
thought about asking one of his grad students to provide more mentoring for her, but one is busy
preparing for his qualifying exams and the other is busy writing her dissertation and preparing to
leave.
○ What do you think might explain Joseph’s difficulties in communicating with his undergrad
mentee, Vanessa? Do you think it might relate to differences in how men and women
communicate, their differences in being an introvert and extrovert, and/or in their differences as a
faculty mentor and undergrad mentee?
○ How might Joseph adapt, to work better with his mentee? How can he improve his
communication and move forward in his research at a suitable pace?
○ Have you encountered similar situations where you had significantly different communication
styles from your mentor or mentee? Feel free to share the situations, the challenges, and how you
addressed them.
#5 – Participation in class and research groups (from Steve Lee)
● Jane is taking a course with a format similar to a journal club, where class participation is a significant
part of the class grade. Students are expected to speak up to ask and answer questions. As the class
meets over several weeks, Jane noticed a pattern where the male students dominated most of the
discussion. She had thoughts to share with the rest of the class, but found it difficult to speak up
when others would jump in before her. She noticed that the two professors teaching the course,
whom she observes to be men, don’t seem to do much to facilitate the discussion, or encourage input
from other students who were also relatively quiet. She isn’t sure how to approach this problem, or
who might be a safe person to approach.
○ What would you recommend for Jane?
○ If you are the instructor for the course, how might you encourage the quiet students to
participate more, without putting them on the spotlight?
○ If you are the PI of a research group, how do you encourage all members of your group to be
engaged, so that they feel comfortable to ask questions, provide input, contribute to the
research, etc? How do you encourage this for members who have historically been marginalized
based upon their race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, etc?
#6 – Acclimating to a new research group (from Steve Lee)
• Harry has just joined a research lab for the summer. All of the other members of the lab (including
the PI) are from another country, and usually prefer to speak their native language. They are friendly
to Harry, but he’s been feeling left out of informal conversations and at their social activities because
he doesn’t speak their language. Harry wants to be culturally sensitive, but wants to connect more
with his PI and labmates.

41. 4
o What would you recommend to Harry to help him quickly acclimate to his research group?
o Have you encountered similar situations where most members of a research group spoke one
language, while a few others didn’t speak that language? Did this create problems within the
group in terms of communication and working collaboratively? Did you observe any helpful
practices that helped to improve communication and collaboration?
o If you are the PI of a research group, how do you help students quickly acclimate to your research
group? Please share your common practices in helping new students, especially those who are
different (in terms of preferred language, gender, race/ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status,
religion, sexual orientation, etc) feel welcome into your research group.
#7 – Selecting research projects (adapted from Entering Mentoring, p 23)
● A week ago, an undergraduate student joined my lab to do an independent summer research
project. He really wanted to come to our lab and aggressively sought us out, which I assumed was
because of our field of research. He had seen presentations about our lab’s research and had read
some of our major papers, so he knew what we worked on. This young man was clearly intelligent,
and he knew what he wanted out of a research experience. He was exactly the type of student I
would love to see go to graduate school. Moreover, he was a first-generation college student.
● I came up with two aspects of my research compatible with the undergraduate’s interests that would
be feasible for him to work on in the short, eight-week summer session. When he arrived, I presented
the two ideas to him, gave him several papers to read, and told him to let me know by the end of the
week which project he preferred. He seemed lukewarm about both projects and, when he returned
the next day, he enthusiastically presented his idea for a different project. It was related to what we
do, but branched into a field that we were not funded for and about which I knew little. I didn’t want
to squash his enthusiasm, and wanted to reinforce his creativity and independence, but I felt
overwhelmed by the prospect of learning an entirely new field in order to advise him well. Moreover,
I was concerned that the agency that funds our work would likely not be supportive of this new area.
With only seven weeks of the summer research program remaining before his poster presentation, I
was stumped.
○ How would you respond to this situation?
○ If you are the PI of a research group, how do you normally determine research projects for your
students? Do you usually provide a project for them, or allow them to select a project based on
their interests? Have you encountered any challenges in determining projects for your students?
○ In this case study, do you think it’s significant that the student is a first-generation college student?
Have you noticed different needs in mentoring first-generation students in contrast to non-first
generation students?
#8 – Lack of independence from new mentee (adapted from Entering Mentoring, p 32)
● An experienced undergraduate researcher was constantly seeking input from the faculty mentor on
minor details regarding his project. Though he had regular meetings scheduled with the mentor, he
would bombard her with several e-mails daily or seek her out anytime she was around, even if it

42. 5
meant interrupting her work. It was often the case that he was revisiting topics that had already been
discussed. This was becoming increasingly frustrating for the mentor, since she knew the student was
capable of independent work (having demonstrated this when she was out of town and less
available). The mentor was frustrated and wondered what to do.
○ What might you do if you were the mentor in this situation?
○ What do you think may be occurring from the undergraduate students’ perspective? What might
explain his behavior?
#9 – Ethics and ambition in research and in research programs (adapted from Entering Mentoring,
pp 37-38)
● Your mentee, James, is a new student who has grand aspirations of one day becoming a famous
scientist. He has participated in science fair opportunities since the seventh grade. He has taken the
advice of educational professionals to gain research experience in order to make his grad school
application look distinguished. He recently has asked if he can do a summer project in your lab and
submit an abstract for a conference presentation and travel award. You are asked to be listed on the
abstract for the project as a co-author. Because of divergent timelines for the summer program and
abstract deadlines, the abstract is due before the experimental work is completed.
● Near the end of the summer program, when you question him, he is vague about what he is doing
and his results. You have the uncomfortable feeling that he has not finished the work and he
fabricated results in order to deliver a polished presentation for the conference. You also wonder if
you pushed James too hard, and perhaps unconsciously encouraged him to work quickly so that he
didn’t thoroughly follow all of the steps in the protocols.
○ How do you feel toward this student? toward yourself?
○ What would/could you do next?
○ Have you encountered a similar situation where you mentored a student who was very eager to
perform well and very ambitious? Did you experience any challenges in not diminishing their
enthusiasm, but at the same guiding them to be more patient in the research progress?
○ If you are the director or coordinator of a research program, have you experienced any conflicts
of interest between mentoring your students and the program goals? For example, were you
encouraged to push a particular student towards grad school to achieve your program goals,
when you honestly questioned if that was the best for the student?
#10 – Digging in
(from Carrie Cameron and Shine Chang; “Boosting Trainees’ Career Commitment Through Scientific
Communication Skills”; presentation at Understanding Interventions Conference, 2016. Used with
permission.)
● You have a student who needs to give her first presentation at a student symposium at the end of the
summer. She is about 10 years older than the other students, and is a single parent of an adolescent
boy. Although she knows her science very well, writes well, and appears to be extroverted, she keeps
finding excuses to postpone her rehearsal. You talk with her about it, and she confides that she has a

43. 6
lot of anxiety about the formal presentation. She in fact is saying that she ‘just can’t do it’ and she’s
digging in.
○ What might you do in this situation?
○ What might explain the student’s behavior? Do you think that she might be dealing with the
impostor syndrome? If so, how would you help her?
#11 – Janet’s story (from Ebony McGee and David Stovall; Educational Theory, 2015, Vol 65 (5), pp
491–511.)
● As a faculty member at your research university, you’ve gotten to know Janet, who is a high-achieving
biochemistry junior conducting research for the summer in a neighboring lab. Because you also
attended her undergraduate institution (an HBCU), you’ve met with her informally several times.
During one particular meeting, she starts to confide with you about her recent experiences in her lab.
● For example, she said that the PI frequently patted her on the head whenever she made a “minor
accomplishment,” that she was the designated person to make coffee runs, and that she was always
assigned the lab cleanup and other menial tasks. After two weeks of bearing this behavior and hoping
it would change, Janet asked the lab manager for more substantive duties. He replied, “Well, coming
from a third-tier college, and a black one for that matter, we realize you are woefully unprepared.
However, being the first black girl in the lab should be seen as a major accomplishment.”
● After this incident, Janet contacted the only person she believed understood how to contest racism
and sexism — her advisor, a black female engineering professor at her undergrad institution — to
explain the situation and ask for guidance. She recalled her professor’s response word for word:
○ I don’t care if they ask you to act like a monkey or bark like a dog. I wrote a letter of
recommendation on your behalf and my reputation is on the line, so you are going to just grin
and bear it. Try to learn something that could help you in your future. Or use this experience as a
resume builder, but don’t you dare do anything to rock the boat.
● So, for the next six weeks, Janet suffered relentless forms of discrimination, bias, and racism. The
closer she got to the office each day, the more her hands would tremble, impairing her driving. Janet
concluded that her trembling was a physical symptom of the stress she was anticipating. You witness
Janet’s emotion and pain as she relives this horrid experience. When you ask, “How did this entire
experience make you feel and how did you cope with this ordeal?” Janet replied, “I actually
considered killing myself.” Then she went on to describe in great detail how she contemplated
hanging herself in a bathroom shower. Only a real fear of not executing her suicide properly and
thoughts of her mother’s anguish kept her from attempting to kill herself.
○ How might you respond to this situation with Janet?
○ Have you encountered any similar situations as the faculty member or as Janet? Feel free to share,
and how you addressed them.

44. 7
#12 – Amira and Jessica (adapted from training for Restorative Justice by Julie Shackford-Bradley of UC
Berkeley)
● As the PI of your research group, you accept two undergrad students from two different intuitions
for the summer. Both are academically strong and have similar research interests, so you hope have a
productive summer of research to gather preliminary data for a proposal that’s due in the fall. You
meet with Jessica, and start to get to know her personally. She shares that she has a brother who is on
his third tour in Iraq and is terrified about him getting killed or hurt by “those Muslims”. You also
meet with Amira, who you notice is wearing a hijab. When you introduce them to each other, you
encourage them to work together in the lab, and to especially help each other prepare for their final
presentation at the end of the summer.
● During the summer, news breaks that two individuals, who are identified as Muslim, killed three
people in a shooting spree. Soon afterwards you talk with Amira, and she indicates that she is so
frustrated by the looks and treatment she gets on campus. In general, other participants in the
summer research program are friendly towards her, but also make comments like "I mean, you're
different. You're Moroccan, not Arabic" and says that makes her even more frustrated because she
doesn't know how to respond to that because she doesn't want to start a fight and doesn't want
people to equate all Arabic people as terrorists. Amira also indicates that her brother is in the
military and served two terms in Afghanistan.
● As the summer progresses, you observe subtle signs that Jessica and Amira are working individually
and not collaboratively. Also, you had hoped that they would help each other more to rehearse their
final presentations, but mentoring both individually has taken more time out of your schedule than
you initially planned.
○ What might you do in this situation? Would you force them to work together more, or make any
changes in how your mentor them?
○ Have you encountered any similar situations? How did you deal with them?
#13 – The “Other” Case Study
If you have a case study or topic that you’d like to discuss, which hasn’t been addressed in the case
studies above, please feel free to bring this up during the discussion. Please share your situation or topic,
and encourage input, questions, and suggestions from others.

45. 8
#14 – Choosing a student mentee (from Steve Lee; do NOT post this case study online)
Professor Mason is on the graduate admissions committee for his PhD program at his tier 1 research
university, and reviews the application that has been summarized below.
●
○ Professor Mason is asked to rate this applicant from 1 (low recommendation for admission) to 10 (high).
What rating would you provide for this applicant? Please discuss your reasoning.
○ Along with your rating, would you recommend:
─ admit and invite student for interview trip
─ wait list, and invite student for interview trip
─ wait list, and invite student for a video interview
─ deny admission
○ Professor Mason also began to wonder: what criteria should he really use to evaluate the student? what
really predicts student success? and how much should he weigh the various components, e.g. research
experiences, the undergrad GPA (overall and jr/sr), GRE scores, etc? His admissions committee does not
provide specific criteria, but is simply told to evaluate on the student’s potential for success in their
program. How would you answer his questions?
○ Professor Mason wants to help increase the diversity of their student population, but is uncertain how to
argue for students such as Mary. What would you recommend that he do or say to his colleagues, as he
plans to support Mary’s admission?
Some of the text
was redacted to
protect the
confidentiality of
this case study.

46. 9
Part II – Group Discussion #1
1. When you first began doing research, what was your experience like? What did you enjoy? What
were some challenges?
2. As you started in research, was there a positive mentor or leader who influenced you? Feel free to
broadly define “mentor” or “leader”. You’re not limited to formal research mentors or faculty.
a. Write down three words that best describe what this person contributed to your life.
b. Share these three words with others in your group, and see if there’s any similarities or
patterns. Share how this person positively influenced your life with others in your group.
Group Discussion #2
A. Individual Activity: adapted Myers-Briggs test for introverts/extroverts < www.humanmetrics.com >
o Select the answer that more accurately reflects your preferred behavior.
Yes No
You enjoy having a wide circle of acquaintances.
You’re usually the first to react to sudden events and surprises.
You easily tell new people about yourself.
You spend your leisure actively socializing with groups of people, attending parties,
shopping, etc.
You rapidly get involved in the social life of a new workplace.
The more people with whom you speak, the better you feel.
It is easy for you to speak loudly.
You enjoy being at the center of events in which other people are directly involved.
You feel at ease in a crowd.
It is easy for you to communicate in social situations.
Totals
o Scoring: add up the number of statements with which you answered “Yes” and “No”. Extroverts
will tend to answer Yes to most of these statements, and Introverts will tend to answer No.
Success Types by John Pelley < http://www.ttuhsc.edu/SOM/success/ >
Well-developed type skills Underdeveloped type skills
Extraversion
Active approach
Bring breadth
Introversion
Reflective approach
Bring depth
Extraversion
Hyperactive
Superficial
Introversion
Withdrawn & secretive
Overly serious
What the Types Can Offer Each Other
EXTRAVERTS
• Provide the outwardly directed energy
needed to move into action
• Offer responsiveness to what is going on
in the environment
• Have a natural inclination to converse and
to network
INTROVERTS
• Provide the inwardly directed energy
needed for focused reflection
• Offer stability from attending to deep
ideas, and listening to others
• Have a natural tendency to think and work
alone

47. 10
B. Group Activity with Case Study: Please read the case study and answer the questions.
• Joseph has been feeling intimidated and overwhelmed with his research professor, and isn’t sure how
to improve his communications with her. He had heard many wonderful and positive things about
Professor Madden, and so had wanted to join her lab. She publishes regularly in high impact journals,
and recently won a couple of prestigious awards for her research and teaching. So when Joseph
applied to join her lab, he was pleasantly surprised when she welcomed him into her group.
• But Joseph has been feeling overwhelmed during his weekly individual meetings with her. She is very
friendly and talkative, and even shares personal stories about raising her young kids. But she also
gives him so many ideas, resources, and tasks to complete, that he has trouble writing down
everything in his notes. He’s constantly afraid that he’s forgotten to record important tasks or items
to complete. She also regularly spouts many terms and acronyms that are unfamiliar to him, but he’s
afraid to ask too many questions because he doesn’t want to look incompetent and because she
seems so busy with her own work and travel. He’s thought about asking if he could audio-record
their meetings, but he’s concerned that she might think it would a little awkward, or an invasion of her
privacy to record their individual meetings. He’s also thought about asking for advice from other
members of the research group, but they all seem to have their cliques and he’s feeling too timid to
approach others. His past research group had felt more comfortable with only 3 members, but his
new group has 12 members and feels so big to him.
• Questions:
1) Share your results from the test for introverts and extroverts. Do you think the test and the tables
helped you to determine or confirm your preference to be an introvert or extrovert?
2) From the case study, do you think Joseph is an introvert or extrovert? Is the professor an
introvert or extrovert? Explain your reasoning.
3) What exactly are the problems that Joseph is facing with his research mentor?
4) How might Joseph adapt, to work better with his professor? How can he improve his
understanding of her expectations for his research?
a) How might Joseph use his strengths to help resolve his problem?
b) What underdeveloped type skills (see tables above for some ideas) might Joseph need to
address as he considers how to improve the communication with his professor?
5) Place yourself in Professor Madden’s shoes in this case study.
a) From Professor Madden’s perspective, what might she perceive about Joseph? Do you think
that she might be aware of Joseph’s difficulties?
b) What might Professor Madden do, to help improve communication with Joseph, and to work
more effectively with him?
6) How would this relationship differ if Joseph and his professor had their opposite types? This is a
tough, but important question! Think carefully and hard. What conflicts and miscommunications
might arise? How would they address their conflicts?

48. Mentoring Competency Assessment (MCA)
Please rate how skilled you feel you are in each of the following areas: [Think about your skill generally, with all
your mentees. Please only choose 'not applicable' (NA) when a skill cannot be applied to any of your mentees.]
Not at all
skilled
Moderately
skilled
Extremely
skilled
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a
Maintaining effective communication
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 1. Active listening
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 2. Providing constructive feedback
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 3. Establishing a relationship based on trust
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 4. Identifying and accommodating different communication styles
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 5. Employing strategies to improve communication with mentees
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 6. Coordinating effectively with your mentees’ other mentors
Aligning expectations
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 7. Working with mentees to set clear expectations of the mentoring relationship
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 8. Aligning your expectations with your mentees
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 9. Considering how personal and professional differences may impact expectations
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 10. Working with mentees to set research goals
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 11. Helping mentees develop strategies to meet goals
Assessing understanding
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 12. Accurately estimating your mentees’ level of scientific knowledge
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 13. Accurately estimating your mentees’ ability to conduct research
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 14. Employing strategies to enhance your mentees’ knowledge and abilities
Fostering independence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 15. Motivating your mentees
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 16. Building mentees’ confidence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 17. Stimulating your mentees’ creativity
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 18. Acknowledging your mentees’ professional contributions
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 19. Negotiating a path to professional independence with your mentees
Addressing diversity
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a
20. Taking into account the biases and prejudices you bring to the mentor/mentee
relationship
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a
21. Working effectively with mentees whose personal background is different from
your own (age, race, gender, class, region, culture, religion, family composition etc.)
Promoting professional development
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 22. Helping your mentees network effectively
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 23. Helping your mentees set career goals
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 24. Helping your mentees balance work with their personal life
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 25. Understanding your impact as a role model
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 n/a 26. Helping your mentees acquire resources (e.g. grants, etc.)

49. Suggested Guidelines for Using the Mentoring Competency Assessment
Background
This Mentoring Competency Assessment (MCA) is a 26-item skills inventory that enables research
mentors and mentees to evaluate six competencies of mentors:
• maintaining effective communication
• aligning expectations
• assessing understanding
• addressing diversity
• fostering independence
• promoting professional development
The findings in the study demonstrate that the MCA has reliability and validity. In addition, this study
provides preliminary norms derived from a national sample of mentors and mentees.
Suggestions for Use
“We believe there are several ways in which the MCA could be used to benefit research mentoring
programs in clinical and translational science.
• First, the MCA could be used to provide direct feedback to mentors about their strengths and
the areas in which they need improvement, especially when the instrument is completed by
mentees.
• Second, the MCA could be used to assess the efficacy of mentor training curricula targeting the
six competencies covered by the instrument.
• Third, simultaneous completion of the MCA by a mentor and his or her mentee may identify
areas in which these individuals are “not on the same page” and could benefit from further
discussion about the reasons for their divergent assessments. Indeed, not all mentees have the
same needs with respect to mentoring, so the MCA could be used to initiate a discussion about
the mentee’s needs.”
Source
Fleming, Michael; House, Stephanie; Hanson, Vansa; Yu, Lan; Garbutt, Jane; McGee, Richard; Kroenke,
Kurt; Abedin, Zainab; Rubio, Doris; “The Mentoring Competency Assessment: Validation of a New
Instrument to Evaluate Skills of Research Mentors” Academic Medicine, Vol 88 (7), 2013, pp 1002–1008.
An online version of this MCA is posted here:
https://uwmadison.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5jMT4fhemifK01n

50. Questionnaire for Aligning Expectations in New Mentoring Relationships
Mentor / Supervisor: Mentee / Student:
Time Period: Dept / Program:
Read each pair of statements and estimate your position on each. For example with statement 1, if you believe strongly
that the ideal mentoring relationship focuses on the research interests, you would circle “1” or “2”. But if you think that
the ideal relationship focuses on the working and communication styles, you would circle “3” or”4”.
The Mentoring Relationship
1
For an ideal mentoring relationship, it’s
important for both mentor and mentee to
have similar research interests
1 2 3 4
For an ideal mentoring relationships, it’s
important for both to have similar working
and communication styles
2
Mentors should only accept mentees when
they have specific knowledge of the
mentee’s chosen topic
1 2 3 4
Mentors should feel free to accept mentees,
even if they do not have specific knowledge
of the mentee’s topic
3
A personal and friendly relationship
between mentor and mentee is important
for a successful relationship
1 2 3 4
A professional relationship is advisable to
maintain objectivity for both mentee and
mentor during their work
4
The mentor is responsible for providing
emotional support & encouragement to the
mentee
1 2 3 4
Personal counselling and support are not the
responsibility of the mentor; mentees should
look for these elsewhere
5
The mentor should develop an appropriate
program and timetable of research and
study for the mentee
1 2 3 4
The mentor should allow the mentee to
develop the program and timetable of
research and study
6
The mentor should insist on regular
meetings with the mentee
1 2 3 4
The mentee should decide when she/he
wants to meet with the mentor
7
The mentor should check regularly that the
mentee is working consistently and on task 1 2 3 4
The mentee should work productively and
independently, and not have to account for
where time is spent
8
The mentor is responsible for ensuring that
the mentee is introduced to the appropriate
services of the department and university
1 2 3 4
It is the mentee’s responsibility to ensure
that she/he has located and accessed all
relevant services and facilities
Research Topics
9
It is the mentor’s responsibility to select a
research topic for the mentee
1 2 3 4
The mentee is responsible for selecting
her/his own research topic
10
It is the mentor who decides which
theoretical framework or methodology is
most appropriate
1 2 3 4
Mentees should decide which theoretical
framework or methodology they wish to use
11
When choosing research topics, I prefer to
work on projects with potential for high
payoffs, even if it involves high risk
1 2 3 4
When choosing research topics, I prefer to
work on projects that have a high & safe
chance of success, even if the payoff is low
12
I prefer to work on projects independently
with myself
1 2 3 4
I prefer to work on projects collaboratively
with other team members.
Dissertation, Papers, and Presentations
13
The mentor should insist on seeing all drafts
of work to ensure that the mentee is on the
right track
1 2 3 4
Mentees should submit drafts of work only
when they want constructive criticism from
the mentor
14
The mentor should assist in the preparation
of presentations & writing of the thesis,
papers, and reports
1 2 3 4
The preparation of presentations & writing
of the thesis, papers, and reports should be
the mentee’s own work
15
The mentor is responsible for decisions
regarding the standard of presentations, the
thesis, papers, and reports
1 2 3 4
The mentee is responsible for decisions
concerning the standard of presentations,
the thesis, papers, and reports

51. Using the “Questionnaire for Aligning Expectations in New Mentoring Relationships”
The Role of Expectations
Aligning expectations and goals is a constant theme in the literature on mentoring relationships and
supervision. The expectations do not need to be identical for both sides (and would be unrealistic), but a
thorough discussion of expectations can greatly increase the likelihood of a productive collaboration and
minimize conflicts. Relevant expectations in the context of research mentoring and supervision can relate to:
• understandings of what research is
• appropriate roles of mentors and mentees, supervisors and employees, etc
• what is professional behavior and how respect is expressed to the mentor and mentee
• the likely consequences of asking questions or acknowledging problems
• how both the mentor and mentee can be pro-active and actively listen to each other
• and many other issues.
Mismatches of expectations are a constant theme in the literature on supervision and mentoring. To help
bring some of these differences in expectations into the open for discussion, a possible strategy is using this
questionnaire. This tool has been designed as a discussion starter for use by supervisors and students.
Our experience suggests that the tool is especially effective when users of this form recognize that
• there are no “right” answers to the items on the questionnaire
• responses are likely to be different at different stages of academic or professional progress
• even identical numerical responses can correspond to different thoughts and expectations
• the purposes of using this form are:
o to structure a fruitful discussion about the reasons why different responses may have been selected,
and
o to decide on appropriate ongoing actions for the current participants and stage
Suggestions for Use
We suggest the following process for using this form.
○ make sure both parties have a blank copy of the questionnaire
○ both parties fill out the questionnaire separately
○ set up a meeting that will be focused on this questionnaire
○ at the meeting, start by comparing the responses given for each statement by each person
○ discuss thoroughly the significance of each response (i.e. answer what each response means for each
person)
○ provide suggestions on how you’ll address different responses and expectations
○ consider repeating the process at various points (e.g. once per year, during critical transitions of the
mentee’s academic timeline, etc)
This document was originally from work by Ingrid Moses (Centre for Learning & Teaching, University of Technology,
Sydney); adapted by Margaret Kiley & Kate Cadman (Advisory Centre for University Education at the University of
Adelaide); further adapted by Steve Lee (Graduate Diversity Officer for the STEM Disciplines at UC Davis), with input
by Chris Golde (Stanford University).

52. 11
References and Resources
General Resources:
• Research Mentor Training: http://www.researchmentortraining.org/index.aspx
• Handelsman, J.; Pfund, C.; Lauffer, S. M.; Pribbenow, C. “Entering Mentoring: A seminar to train a new
generation of scientists” (the first edition is available for a free download)
o http://www.hhmi.org/sites/default/files/Educational%20Materials/Lab%20Management/entering_mentorin
g.pdf
• “Collaboration and Team Science: A Field Guide” by L. Michelle Bennett, Howard Gadlin, Samantha Levine-
Finley; NIH; August 2010 (free pdf available online)
o https://ccrod.cancer.gov/confluence/download/attachments/47284665/teamscience_fieldguide.pdf
• Beyond “Finding Good Mentors” to “Building and Cultivating your Mentoring Team”
o Rick McGee, Steve Lee, Chris Pfund, and Janet Branchaw
o book chapter in National Postdoc Association’s “Advancing Postdoc Women Guidebook”; free pdf
available at: http://www.nationalpostdoc.org/?page=ElsevierGuidebook
Mentoring Up:
• Gabarro, John and John Kotter. “Managing Your Boss” Harvard Business Review, 1980, pp 92-100.
• “Mentoring Up”: Learning to Manage Your Mentoring Relationships. Lee, S.; McGee, R.; Pfund, C.; Branchaw, J.
book chapter in The Mentoring Continuum: From Graduate School Through Tenure, Syracuse University
Press, Glenn Wright, editor, 2015. http://syracuseuniversitypress.syr.edu/spring-2016/mentoring-
continuum.html
Self-Awareness
• Dunning, D. and Kruger, J. "Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one's own
incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 77 (1999): 1121-
1134.
• Dunning, Kruger, et al; Curr Directions Psychol Sci, 2003, 12, 83–87.
• Dunning, David. “We Are All Confident Idiots” Pacific Standard, Oct 27, 2014.
o http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/confident-idiots-92793
• Dierdorff, E. and Rubin, R. “Research: We’re not very self-aware, especially at work” Harvard Business Review,
March 12 2015. https://hbr.org/2015/03/research-were-not-very-self-aware-especially-at-work/
Self-Assessments
• A free, unofficial version of the Myers Briggs Type test: www.humanmetrics.com
• An introduction to the Myers Briggs types by John Pelley. He refers to this as “success types”
o http://www.ttuhsc.edu/SOM/success/
• A more thorough explanation of Myers Briggs types and their impact on various relationships
o “Please Understand Me II” by David Keirsey
• StrengthsFinder materials: http://strengths.gallup.com/default.aspx
o I recommend starting with the book “Strengths Based Leadership”, which provides a summary. Buying the
book will also give you a code to take the online test.
• myIDP website (IDP = Individual Development Plan): http://myidp.sciencecareers.org/
Mentoring Compacts and Evaluating Mentoring Skills
• Example Mentor Compacts: https://mentoringresources.ictr.wisc.edu/ExampleMentoringCompacts
• Fleming, M.; House, S.; Hanson, V. S.; Yu, L.; Garbutt, J.; McGee, R.; Kroenke, K.; Abedin, Z.; Rubio, D. M. (2013).
The Mentoring Competency Assessment. Academic Medicine, 88(7), 1002–1008.
• Example Mentor Evaluation Forms: https://mentoringresources.ictr.wisc.edu/EvalTemplates