My mentor or advisor is not fulfilling their responsibilities as a mentor.
The Duke Graduate School defines a mentor based on Stanford University sociologist Dr. Morris Zelditch's model. In this definition, a good mentor should fulfill responsibilities in these six roles:
- Advisers: someone with career experience willing to share their knowledge
- Supporters: someone who gives emotional and moral encouragement
- Tutors: someone who gives specific feedback on one’s performance
- Experts: people who shepherd students through the transition from trainee to junior colleague
- Sponsors: someone who acts as a source of information about, and aids in obtaining, opportunities
- Models of academic identity: someone who demonstrates and upholds best practices within academia
If your graduate program uses annual Individual Development Plans (IDPs) to support graduate student development and foster effective mentoring, you are strongly encouraged to use your annual IDP to develop mutual expectations between you and your mentor.
If your mentor is not abiding by one, some, or all of their responsibilities, you have the right to approach them and respectfully ask for what you need.
If you have already attempted this unsuccessfully, or do not feel comfortable doing so for one or more reasons, the next step is to ask for help from your department, usually starting with your director of graduate studies (DGS).