Mentoring Matters

May 04 2024
Mentoring Matters Podcast artwork

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.

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Mentoring 2.0: Integrating Generative AI Tools for Enhanced Support

May 04 2024 27 mins  
Send us a Text Message.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 opportunities to enhance the mentoring experience and support the growth and development of graduate students.We delve into the

Reset: Starting Fresh at the Beginning of a Semester

Jan 27 2024 31 mins  
Send us a Text Message.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 milestones for your students AND helping them understand your purpose behind the planEnjoy!If you are enjoying this podcast please leave a rating o

Thriving Together: Cultivating Well-Being in Students and Faculty

Jul 18 2023 51 mins  
Send us a Text Message.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 Clifton and Jim Harter, which is from Gallup and CliftonStrengths-based. The book focuses on 5 pillars o

Wrangling the Chaos: Tips for Time Management

Mar 17 2023 45 mins  
Send us a Text Message.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. the important, big items) first and putting the "sand" around them (e.g. the smaller, urgent things)Unders

A Behind the Scenes Peek at our Lives as Graduate Mentors

Mar 07 2023 31 mins  
Send us a Text Message.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 stress (and ours!!)Helping students prepare for job interviewsPreparing for student presentationsAnd that pesky fact that we do these mentor

Tips for Building Resiliency in Graduate Students

Feb 11 2023 36 mins  
Send us a Text Message.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 a part of resiliency, we discuss ways to foster passion in our studentsDeliberate practice: we suggest ways

Building Better Teams: How Book Clubs Can Foster Community and Professional Growth

Dec 13 2022 28 mins  
Send us a Text Message.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 Atomic Habits by James Clear.We discuss what worked, what we'd do differently next time, and what the students thought

Utilizing Strengths in Graduate Student Mentoring

Nov 15 2022 35 mins  
Send us a Text Message.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 tailor the mentoring experience to get the most out of every student (in the least stressful way!) We discussed: Wha

The Power of Recognition

Oct 26 2022 22 mins  
Send us a Text Message.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 not necessarily just like you!Mary and Steph are super different in how they want to be recognized! (Shocking no one that knows us IR

Mirror, Mirror: The Importance of Reflection for Student Growth

Oct 05 2022 25 mins  
Send us a Text Message.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 the experienceSo what- Why does it matter?Now what- What's next? What do we do differently next time?We also decided th