Mentoring Your Way

The Office of Graduate Studies recognizes that mentorship is crucial to a graduate student’s life, well-being, and overall success. Mentoring Your Way is our multi-pronged initiative to support expanded opportunities and stronger practices related to graduate student mentoring.

Mentoring Your Way consists of three main components: faculty awareness and training, resources for mentors and mentees, and mentorship programs.

Faculty Awareness and Training

The Office of Graduate Studies coordinates with the Office of the Provost to encourage A&S graduate faculty to participate in specialized mentor training through the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER).

Mentoring Resources

We offer a repository of resources where faculty and graduate students can go to get mentorship support, learn best practices, and see examples from peer institutions. This repository includes OGS Mentoring Agreements, designed to help mentors and mentees align expectations.

Mentorship Programs

The OGS Transdisciplinary Mentoring Community (TMC) pairs faculty mentors with small teams of graduate students across disciplines to engage in conversations and accelerate connections beyond one’s home department throughout the academic year.

Grad Peer Circles offers a variety of ways for graduate students to connect with peer mentors, both in their home department and outside of it, encouraging community building and the cultivation of support networks. Learn more about a few of our incredible peer mentors below.

Transdisciplinary Mentoring Community (TMC)

Our Transdisciplinary Mentoring Community (TMC) pairs faculty mentors with small groups of graduate students to engage in conversations and accelerate connections beyond one’s home department throughout the academic year. The aim is to foster mentoring and professional development beyond students’ advisors and across A&S graduate programs.

learn more

Grad Peer Circles

Grad Peer Circles is the Office of Graduate Studies’ peer mentoring initiative under Mentoring Your Way. Some of the best mentors for incoming graduate students are fellow graduate students who understand what they are experiencing. Through Grad Peer Circles, we aim to offer a variety of ways for incoming graduate students to connect with peer mentors, both in their home department and outside of it, thus encouraging community building and the cultivation of support networks.

learn more

Mentoring Resources

OGS Mentoring Agreement

Natural Sciences and Social Sciences

OGS Mentoring Agreement

Humanities

FAQ for OGS Mentoring Agreements

Mentoring Resource Links

For faculty and graduate students

Mentoring at WashU

Office of the Provost

OGS Mentoring Agreement

Mentoring Teams

Mentor Map

Download this fillable PDF to map out your mentoring relationships in the areas of academics, professionalization, and well-being. Revisit this each year as your connections grow.

Community Voices

Hear from our faculty and graduate students about the importance of developing a diverse network of mentors to support student life, well-being, and overall success.