Mentoring Matters
Welcome to "Mentoring Matters" the podcast where professors Stephanie Hansen and Mary Drewnoski share their expert insights on how to excel as a mentor. Join us as we tackle the challenges of mentoring graduate students and offer actionable tips for building community, enhancing communication, and fostering a culture of learning within your team. With years of experience and hard-won wisdom, Hansen and Drewnoski will provide the guidance you need to succeed in your mentoring endeavors. Tune in to "Mentoring Matters" for valuable insights and advice on mentoring graduate students.
Episodes
26 episodes
Mentoring 2.0: Integrating Generative AI Tools for Enhanced Support
In this episode of Mentoring Matters, we explore the transformative potential of generative AI tools like ChatGPT in the context of graduate student mentoring. As these cutting-edge technologies continue to advance, they offer unique opportunit...
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Season 3
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Episode 26
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27:35
Reset: Starting Fresh at the Beginning of a Semester
In this (long awaited) episode of Mentoring Matters we discuss how to get our students started off strong at the beginning of the semester. Things we discussed include:How much Steph loves to planSetting goals and milestone...
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Season 3
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Episode 25
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31:55
Thriving Together: Cultivating Well-Being in Students and Faculty
Dr. Jodi McGill (Assistant Dean of Research and Graduate Students at Iowa State University's College of Veterinary Medicine) joined us to discuss what we learned in our last grad faculty book club. We read the book "Wellbeing at Work" by Jim Cl...
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Season 3
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Episode 24
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51:05
Wrangling the Chaos: Tips for Time Management
Time management can be a struggle for graduate students and faculty. In this episode we offer tips to make more efficient use of your time, with the goal of reducing everyone's stress.We discussed:Scheduling "the big rocks" (e.g...
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Season 3
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Episode 23
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45:42
A Behind the Scenes Peek at our Lives as Graduate Mentors
In this episode we take you on a behind the scenes journey to hear about our graduate student interactions over a random week.Things we discussed:Being intentional with our timePlanning ahead to reduce the student's...
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Season 3
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Episode 22
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31:58
Tips for Building Resiliency in Graduate Students
In this episode we share ideas for improving resiliency in our graduate students. Topics covered include:Angela Duckworth's book "Grit" and Liz Wiseman's "Impact Players" are two resources we discuss and recommendPassion is...
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Season 3
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Episode 21
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36:49
Building Better Teams: How Book Clubs Can Foster Community and Professional Growth
In this episode we discuss how we've used book clubs with our graduate students to enhance community and habit building.Mary talks about reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey and Steph talks about reading ...
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Season 3
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Episode 20
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28:39
Utilizing Strengths in Graduate Student Mentoring
In this episode: Steph and Mary are on vacation! And nerding out about how we use the Clifton Strengths talent assessment in our graduate student mentoring. Similar to how we use Meyers Briggs Type Indicator, Strengths is another way to help us...
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Season 3
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Episode 19
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35:36
The Power of Recognition
In this episode we discuss what a powerful tool recognition of individual and team success can be, including:Why it's important to ask your team members how they want to be recognized.Reinforcing the idea that your team is ...
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Season 3
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Episode 18
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22:45
Mirror, Mirror: The Importance of Reflection for Student Growth
In this episode we discuss how reflection helps our graduate students learn and grow. We talk about some of the strategies we are already using to cause students to pause and reflect and ways we want to try in the future.What- Recapping...
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Season 3
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Episode 17
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25:06
Getting the Most out of Conferences
Attending conferences can be a great way to entice a student to finish a project and share their data. But how do we help students get the most out of an often very expensive conference attendance?In this episode we reminisce about some...
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Season 2
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Episode 16
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26:00
Doing our Homework
Hello Mentors! In this episode we reflect on the value of taking time to prepare for our individual grad student meetings. We offer some strategies to find time in your busy schedule and discuss a checklist of items we like to cover in...
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Season 2
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Episode 15
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28:54
Retreat! AKA How to Get the Most out of a Research Retreat
Retreat! Research retreat, that is!In this episode we talked about the research retreat Steph did with her lab recently. We talk about what went well, what she'd do differently, and Mary offered up lots of ideas for what she'd like to d...
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Season 2
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Episode 14
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27:21
Quit Bossing and Start Coaching
In this episode we discuss the traits we've appreciated in our best bosses, and why those bosses might have actually been our best coaches. We talk about tips for figuring out how to be a better boss/coach for our team.Highlights:...
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Season 2
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Episode 13
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30:19
Resources for our Professional Development
In this episode, we discuss a few resources we’ve found useful for our own professional development. And how we use them with our grad students, of course!Resources we discuss:James Clear, Atomic habits, as interviewed by B...
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Season 2
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Episode 12
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28:36
Lessons Learned in 2021
In this episode we discuss the hard-fought mentoring lessons we have learned not only over the past year, but stretching back to early 2020. We talk about what has gone well and what we still need to work on in the coming year. And we decided b...
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Season 2
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Episode 11
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32:47
Keeping the Curiosity: A Conversation with Dr. Jen Heemstra
Emory University Professor Jen Heemstra joined us for a conversation about strategies for success as graduate student mentors. We also chatted about ideas for faculty development and ways we can foster strong mentors. A few things w...
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Season 2
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Episode 10
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53:36
Using Personality Assessments to Tailor Graduate Student Mentoring
In this episode we interview one of our own teaching mentors, Dr. Jan Wiersema of Iowa State University.We explore how using type indicators (sometimes called personality assessments) like Myers Briggs can help faculty understand their ...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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49:45
Ten Phrases to Use in Your Grad Student Mentoring
Welcome to Season 2! We are excited to be back after our summer hiatus.In this episode we discuss 10 phrases we find useful to have in your pocket when mentoring graduate students.Among others, we talk about the importance of se...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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30:18
Ten Pieces of Graduate Mentoring Advice for New Faculty
In this episode we cover our top ten tips for things we wish we'd known when we started mentoring graduate students. Have a listen to learn why our number one tip was to keep your mouth shut!Our tips cover the things we've learned in th...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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29:14
Crossing the Finish Line: Helping Students Find Finishing Energy
In this episode of Mentoring Matters we discuss how to help your graduate students plan for the end. Of their graduate program that is.We cover things we've done (or wish we had done) to help graduate students plan for and execute an ex...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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24:12
Let's Talk: Tips to Build Effective Oral Communicators
In this episode of Mentoring Matters we share our tips for helping graduate students become awesome oral communicators.Don't forget to give them opportunity to practice! Provide low stress opportunities to present such as giving present...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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26:34
Developing Team Culture
In this episode we discuss one of our favorite subjects, how to build community within your graduate student team. Things we talk about include:Setting expectations from day one to help students understand the importanc...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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25:24
Making Writing Manageable
In this episode, we tackle a topic that can strike fear in the heart of even the best mentor—how to develop students into strong technical writers.In this episode we discuss tips for making the writing process manageable:Get...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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23:42
Expectations: Starting Graduate Students Off Right
Clear communication is key to success when working with graduate students. Articulating expectations at the start will pay dividends in the long run! In this episode we discuss how to:1. Clearly communicate what you expect ...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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22:34