The Graduate College Mentoring Certificate Program supports and recognizes the development of intentional mentoring practices in academic contexts.
Pursuing the certificate provides an opportunity to enhance skills, gain experience, and engage in reflection and growth as a mentor. Mentoring others and guiding their work is crucial for success in many common career paths for graduate students and postdocs, so pursuing the Graduate College Mentoring Certificate can be a productive way to prepare for those paths. It is also one way that the Graduate College celebrates graduate students' and postdocs' contributions to the academic and research enterprise at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The certificate is available to any graduate student or postdoctoral scholar at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who completes the three requirements below. If you have questions, contact us at gradsuccess@illinois.edu.
Certificate Requirements
1. Complete 3 hours of mentorship training
- Attend at least 3 hours of mentorship training, offered by the Graduate College (see upcoming workshops here) or from a pre-approved list of alternative trainings (contact gradsuccess@illinois.edu to get the list). Training offered by another entity may count toward this requirement, with approval from the Graduate College.
- Training should address topics including mentoring in a research or other academic setting, inclusive mentoring and diversity, setting expectations, and feedback and communication.
2. Engage in a substantive mentoring experience
- The mentoring experience should focus on guiding and supporting mentees’ progress toward goals in research or another academic setting.
- At the point of application for the certificate, at least 15 meetings between mentor and mentee should have occurred.
- Examples of qualifying mentoring experiences include:
- Mentoring a student’s research for a semester or longer
- Mentoring a student’s research during an intensive summer research program
- A formal academic or research mentoring program within a department, other campus unit, or scholarly organization
- Supervising a research-based or community-engagement-based independent study, James Scholar project, or similar
- Mentoring experiences that are not similar to those described above may be considered for approval by the Graduate College (email gradsuccess@illinois.edu).
- Mentoring that qualifies for the certificate typically involves undergraduates, high school students, or early-stage graduate students. Mentoring of elementary or middle school students does not typically qualify.
- Mentoring that is primarily social in nature does not typically qualify.
- If you are interested in gaining mentoring experience, consider applying to be a mentor in the Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program.
3. Mentoring Philosophy and Reflections
- Mentoring Philosophy: Describe the core principles that guide your mentoring, including your motivations and goals for a mentoring relationship. (approximately 200-300 words)
- Reflection #1: How has your experience as a mentor shaped your mentoring philosophy and your future approach to mentoring? What went well, what went less well, and how do you plan to adapt your approach in the future? (approximately 250 words)
- Reflection #2: How did you or would you implement the mentoring strategies and best practices you learned in your mentorship training? (approximately 250 words)
- Reflection #3: How do you make your mentoring inclusive? What role does mentoring play in increasing the diversity of participation in academia? (approximately 250 words)