Advisors are vital to students’ and faculty members’ scholarly and professional development and to the intellectual excellence and vitality of any program. The best advising includes mentoring, where mentoring is understood an active process by which advisors establish and foster structured and trusting relationships with graduate students by offering guidance, support, and encouragement aimed at developing their competence and character. Mentors want to help graduate students further develop their strengths, work through challenges, achieve academic excellence, and advance professionally in career paths of the student’s choosing. While one faculty member typically serves as the student’s principal academic advisor at any given point in the student’s graduate experience, graduate students are encouraged to develop a network of mentors. 

In recognition of the crucial role of advising and mentoring in graduate education, the Graduate School has developed a series of resources, each focused on a distinct audience.