Resources for Faculty & Staff
This page provides resources for program directors, coordinators, and others involved in the promotion and direction of graduate programs and the recruitment of students. This section of the website also includes access to AppReview and information about graduate faculty and program reviews. Please contact Dr. Shannon Connelly if you have suggestions about the content provided here.
Outreach and Professional Development Support
Click here to request support for an outreach/recruitment opportunity.
Click here to schedule a customized workshop for your students.
Best Practices & Recommendations
Next Generation PhD
With the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Council of Graduate Schools, the Graduate School implemented a NextGenPhD planning grant. The initiative gathered data about career preparation for humanities PhD students, fostered faculty conversation and competence around the issue, and piloted programming designed to inform and prepare students for diverse careers. Though focused on doctoral education in the humanities (particularly UTEP's Rhetoric and Writing Studies and History programs), many of the lessons learned were broadly applicable. Complementing the culture and values of the UTEP Edge, NextGen informed the redevelopment of the Graduate School's approach to graduate student professional development (see "Best Practices for Graduate Student Professional Development" below).
Ambler, Charles (2017), Next Generation Humanities PhD White Paper. El Paso, TX: The University of Texas at El Paso Graduate School.
McCarthy, M.T. (2017), Summary of Prior Work in Humanities PhD Professional Development. Washington, DC: Council of Graduate Schools.
McCarthy, M.T. (2017), Promising Practices in Humanities PhD Professional Development. Washington, DC: Council of Graduate Schools.
Best Practices for Graduate Student Professional Development
Drawing on the UTEP Edge, the NEH NextGenPhD program, resources from the Council of Graduate Schools, and conversations with faculty, staff, and students, the Graduate School has compiled best practices for the professional development of Graduate Students. These suggestions complement the information and resources provided to students at www.utep.edu/graduate/PD and boil down to three points:
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Institutionalize an integral, no-assumptions approach to professional development from day one;
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Normalize work across disciplines and outside the academy; and
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Make use of existing resources.
Click the sections below for more information about concrete ways faculty and staff can contribute to graduate student professional development.
- Maintain and make available data about retention, completion, and alumni
- Institutionalize the use of the summers for internships and experience in varied work environments
- Allow assistantships to vary according to career goals
- Create lists of practitioners, administrators, and other professionals at key institutions; encourage students to meet with these individuals during research visits, conferences, and other opportunities
- Encourage the connection of theses and dissertations to cross-disciplinary conversations in order to maximize future opportunities
- Incorporate reflection, skills assessment, and the Individualized Development Plan (IDP) as part of the orientation, advising, and defense/graduation processes
- Support cross-listing, the pursuit of graduate certificates, and course substitution when appropriate
- Connect with alumni & community resources (leaders in business/Chamber of Commerce, non-profits, government, public services, community/workplace development offices)
- Encourage internationalization (exchange programs, co-teaching, research and practicum stays)
- Encourage students studying across disciplinary lines, substituting courses, cross-listing courses, designing unique projects; advocate for corresponding departmental support
- Encourage/facilitate writing groups/cohorts during thesis and dissertation writing and job-search phase
- Encourage the connection of theses and dissertations to cross- disciplinary conversations in order to maximize future opportunities
- Require students to maintain a CV, résumé, and Individualized Development Plan (IDP)
- Avoid the use of the terms “Alt-Ac” and “Plan B”; talk about "professional development," "career diversity," and "parallel plans"
Click here for information about Individualized Development Plans.
- Create assignments that involve direct application, community engagement, and cross-disciplinary work
- Normalize and incorporate professional development and reflection on skills
- Avoid the use of the terms “Alt-Ac” and “Plan B”; talk about "professional development," "career diversity," and "parallel plans"
- Reflect on your own values, skills, and experiences (i.e. industry, admin, research)
- Encourage internationalization (exchange programs, co-teaching, research and practicum stays)
- Share information about scholarly efforts in community-engaged work (Community Engaged Participatory Research, Public/Applied History, Community Literacy, Engineering Education and Leadership, the Center for Civic Engagement.)
- Encourage students to take care of themselves and get help when they need it. Remind them them that Counseling and Psychological Services provides free individual and group therapy for students, dealing with both personal and career issues. Keep in mind other available services, including:
- Encourage undergraduates to think about graduate school and consider Fast Track
- Share information about the Graduate School’s professional development and support programming: www.utep.edu/graduate/pd and www.utep.edu/graduate/calendar
Mentoring
The Graduate School recognizes the value of mentoring and recommends that graduate students and postdocs actively seek mentoring relationships with faculty members at UTEP and in their field at other institutions. Furthermore, we regard faculty mentoring of students and postdocs as part of a long-term strategy to ensure student success in accordance with UTEP’s vision of “Access and Excellence” in higher education. Different mentors may provide different types of assistance, so we recommend students and postdocs have multiple faculty members (as well as professionals outside the academy) to whom they can look for advice and guidance. Mentors should introduce young scholars to established people in the field, teach norms and best practices of the discipline, and work with mentees to create an Individual Development Plan.
The Graduate School and the Center for Faculty Leadership and Development recognize graduate faculty for excellence in the mentoring of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars at the annual Mentoring Reception. The event includes a panel discussion about mentoring. Click here for a list of Outstanding Thesis & Dissertation and Three Minute Thesis Competition winners and their mentors.

Previous honorees:
2017—Dr. Diane Doser, Professor of Geological Sciences
2016—Dr. Jorge Gardea-Torresdey, Professor of Chemistry
Dr. Samuel Brunk, Professor of History, recommends mentors allow their protégés to largely define the mentoring relationship based on their needs. He recommends mentors:
- Be available when the mentee needs support;
- Listen calmly and sympathetically; and
- Focus on the discipline’s fundamentals, in his case, sound historical research and interpretation and logical, accessible writing.
"This approach is a very individualized one, better for some disciplines than others," Sam adds; "It it can only work if there is a programmatic safety net for students who may not seek help when they need it."
Dr. Fernanda Wagstaff, Associate Professor of Management, discussed meta-analytic results of current research on mentoring relationships. Drawing from supported hypotheses, she centered her discussion on four topics: protégés, mentors, mentoring relationships, and the management of mentoring programs.
Supported hypotheses related to protégés
- Protégé proactivity associates with mentoring support. (Gosh, 2014) (Kammeyer Mueller & Judge, 2008)
- Protégé emotional intelligence positively associates with mentoring support. (Gosh, 2014)
- Protégé self-monitoring associates with mentoring support. (Gosh, 2014)
- Protégé learning goal orientation associates with mentoring support. (Gosh, 2014)
Supported hypotheses related to mentors
- Providing mentoring positively relates to subjective career outcomes (personal satisfaction and exhilaration from the fresh energy and perspectives provided by protégés, and a deeper sense of purpose and belonging to their organizations). (Ghosh & Reio, 2013)
- Mentor’s learning goal orientation associates with mentoring support (Ghosh & Reio, 2013)
Process issues in mentoring relationships
- Self-disclosure in a mentoring dyad positively associates with mentoring support (Gosh, 2014)
- Trust (both cognition and affect based) in a mentoring dyad positively associates with mentoring support. (Gosh, 2014)
Management of mentoring programs
- Perceived similarity in a mentoring dyad positively associates with mentoring support. (Gosh, 2014)
- Compared to formal mentoring, informal mentoring positively associates with mentoring support. (Gosh, 2014)
- Perceived organizational support positively associates with mentoring support. (Gosh, 2014)
Implications for practice
These robust findings, says Fernanda, have important implications for practice at the individual/dyadic level (i.e., mentors / mentees), at the programmatic level (e.g., our PhD program), and at the organizational level (i.e., Graduate School and UTEP). At the individual level, protégés should strive to be proactive, emotionally intelligent, and focused on learning. On the other hand, faculty members should take mentoring seriously—not just because it's the right thing to do—but because mentoring contributes to both protégé and mentor success. At the programmatic level, we should continue securing opportunities to develop a variety of skills, strategies, and techniques in our students, including proactivity, emotional intelligence, and learning goal orientation. Finally, the University should continue providing institutional support focused on fomenting a culture of mentoring. This annual mentoring award and reception signals the relevance of mentoring relationships for UTEP.
"Mentoring," she concludes, "improves both our UTEP community and the community of El Paso by tapping into one of the two pillars of our institution: Excellence."
Works Cited:
Ghosh, R. (2014). "Antecedents of mentoring support: a meta-analysis of individual, relational, and structural or organizational factors," Journal of Vocational Behavior, 84 (3), 367-384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2014.02.009
Ghosh, R. & Reio, (2013). Ghosh, R., & Reio, T. G. (2013). Career benefits associated with mentoring for mentors: A meta-analysis. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 83 (1), 106-116. https://doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2013.03.011
Kammeyer Mueller & Judge, 2008. Kammeyer-Mueller, J. D., & Judge, T. A. (2008). A quantitative review of mentoring research: Test of a model. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 72 (3), 269-283. https://doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2007.09.006
Other Works Consulted:
DeLong, T. J., Gabarro, J. J., & Lees, R. J. (2008, January 1). Why Mentoring Matters in a Hypercompetitive World. https://hbr.org/2008/01/why-mentoring-matters-in-a-hypercompetitive-world
Clutterbuck, D., & Megginson, D. (2012). Making coaching work: Creating a coaching culture. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Meister, J. C., & Willyerd, K. (2010, May 1). Mentoring Millennials. https://hbr.org/2010/05/mentoring-millennials
As Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Materials at Extremes Research Group (MERG), Dr. Calvin Stewart mentors a team of undergraduate and graduate researchers. He recommends mentors:
- Have frequent informal conversations and semesterly retreats to build your team;
- Stay relevant by continually reflecting on what works (and doesn't) for your students; and
- Focus on helping students develop their professional and research skills.
To achieve that last goal, he requires his protégés to read:

[1] Tomorrow Professor: Preparing for Academic Careers in Science and Engineering, Richard M. Reis; Wiley
[2] Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded, Joshua Schimel; Oxford University Press
[3] Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student’s Guide to Earning an M.A. or a Ph.D., Robert Peters; Farrar, Straus and Giroux
[4] A PhD is Not Enough!: A Guide to Survival in Science, Peter J. Feibelman; Basic Books
[5] The Academic Job Search Handbook, Julia Miller Vick, Jennifer S. Furlong, and Rosanne Lurie; University of Pennsylvania Press
Calvin also maintains a manual for his team, which lays out the attributes of a scientist, funding opportunities, team operations, and details associated with producing research papers:
The links below provide information and resources on a number of topics related to the mentoring. Importantly, The UTEP Center for Faculty Leadership and Development facilitates professional development activities related to mentoring, so check their schedule often. (CFLD also has information about mentoring for faculty members , which is especially important for early-career scholars.) The National Postdoctoral Association provides a Toolkit on Mentoring , which includes articles, mentoring plan templates, and other resources for protégés and their mentors. In order to access these valuable resources, graduate students, faculty, staff, and postdocs can apply for Affiliate membership by clicking here and using their UTEP email address.
- University of Illinois–Guiding Standards for Faculty Supervision of Graduate Students
- University of Illinois–The Multiple Roles of the Faculty Mentor
- University of Illinois–Best Practices in Graduate Programs
- University of Michigan–How to Mentor Graduate Students
- University of Nebraska–Mentoring Guidebook
- University of Wisconsin–Online Mentor Training
- Management Mentors–Coaching vs. Mentoring: 25 Ways They're Different (2013)
- MentorNet–Online Mentor-Mentee Matching
- PhD Project–Mentoring Resources for Minority PhD Students in Business
- Council of Graduate Schools–Great Mentoring in Graduate School: A quick start guide for protégés *
- Council of Graduate Schools–On the Right Track: A Manual for Research Mentors *
- Chronicle of Higher Education–How to be a Mentor to New Minority Scholars
- Chronicle of Higher Education–Getting Minority PhD Students to the Finish Line
*As a benefit of institutional membership, online access to all CGS publications is provided to students, faculty, and staff at member institutions. To create a new user account for publications access, complete this form .
This page and the resources it suggests provide sound general advice. That said, every situation is unique, and programs and opportunities are subject to change. Stay informed, make the best decision for you, and contact the Graduate School if you have suggestions for this page.