What is Mentoring at Mizzou?
Mentoring at Mizzou (M@M) is a professional development opportunity for Mizzou faculty and staff who mentor undergraduates, graduate students, post docs and/or faculty. The program uses Entering Mentoring curricula developed by the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research. These professional development opportunities are led by Mizzou faculty trained as CIMER facilitators and use an evidence-based, interactive approach designed to help mentors develop skills for engaging in productive, culturally responsive, research mentoring relationships – relationships that optimize the success of both mentor and mentees.
Mentoring at Mizzou currently has three types of offerings:
- M@M Workshop: Workshops use interactive training to cover at least 4 of CIMER’s core competencies (see list below). This workshop can be completed over one day, two half-days, or 4 1.5hr sessions – either in person or synchronously online. Individuals can request to join campuswide offerings, or departments or other units may request a M@M Workshop for their group. (6-hour program)
- M@M Tasters: Tasters provide departments or other groups with an introduction to M@M programming. This in-person or hybrid session overviews M@M and has participants take part in an interactive activity (30-minute program) and are available on a range of topics. Request one for your department or research group.
- M@M Refreshers: Refreshers are in-person sessions available to individuals or groups that have already completed a M@M Workshop. They provide a forum for refreshing a core mentoring competency and reinvigorating conversations about mentoring. (60-minute program).
As of fall 2024, all newly hired assistant professors are required to participate in a M@M Workshop (or its equivalent) to be eligible to apply for doctoral faculty status and advise doctoral students. This policy was developed and approved in Spring 2024 by the Graduate Faculty Senate, the faculty governance body for graduate education. All faculty who mentor, including those not working with doctoral students, are highly encouraged to engage with M@M programming, as Mizzou strongly supports these mentoring and professional development opportunities for all faculty.
Mentoring at Mizzou is a partnership between the Office of the Provost and Graduate School led by Enid Schatz, Associate Dean of the Graduate School, Jeni Hart, Dean of the Graduate School and Vice Provost for Graduate Studies, and Shruti Rana, Associate Provost for Academic Programs.
Benefits of Mentoring at Mizzou
Units and individuals that engage in Mentoring at Mizzou have potential for these benefits: access to research-based mentoring resources, space to reflect on and discuss mentoring goals, development of common mentoring language and practices, opportunity to plan actions to improve mentoring, evidence-based mentor training suitable for faculty mentors on training grants, and time to develop skills for better mentoring practices to better support success for and retain students, postdocs and faculty members.
What to Expect from Mentoring at Mizzou
Participants can expect customized training (in-person or online) led by Mizzou colleagues. Workshops can range from 30 minutes to a full day. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- Aligning expectations in mentoring relationships
- Establishing a practice of belonging
- Assessing understanding
- Cultivating ethical behavior
- Enhancing work-life integration
- Maintaining effective communication
- Promoting research self-efficacy
- Fostering independence and well-being
How to Request Training
- Register for one of the upcoming campus-wide, open-call training offerings (both online and in-person options), listed below.
- If you have any questions, please contact the Office of the Provost
Upcoming Campus-Wide Opportunities
Wednesday, August 19, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.: anyone interested in joining new faculty for a day of training may register by submitting this Qualtrics form.
Other training sessions will be offered throughout the 2026-27 academic year. Please continue to check this website for future training sessions or contact the Office of the Provost for more information.