As a faculty member, working closely with graduate students as they move through the stages of their training has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my career. As a dean, particularly at a moment of transformation in graduate education and career trajectories, I am even more aware of the vital role of effective advising relationships in successful and rewarding graduate student experiences. Recognizing the importance of advising, over the past year faculty from across the University participated in a Graduate-School led task force on graduate advising that resulted in a number of new initiatives, including a Graduate Advising and Mentoring website, to enhance attention to advising. 

The most successful advising involves coordination and commitment from individual faculty members, individual students and graduate programs. With this in mind, we have assembled a new Graduate Advising and Mentoring website with a suite of resources—some aimed at faculty, some aimed at students, and some aimed at programs. We have developed materials such as Getting the Most from Advisors and Mentors (for students) and Best Practices for Graduate Advising (for faculty) specifically for Brown. We have also curated and provided guides to some of the many excellent resources available on the web.

No less importantly, we have sought to foster conversations within and across departments that cultivate a culture of attention to advising. And we have piloted workshops with faculty on effective advising.

Our goal is to support faculty and programs in enabling students to develop rich networks of advisors and mentors who support their multiple needs through the various stages of graduate education.