A Mentoring Model for Enhancing Success in Graduate Education

Abstract

Mentoring has served as an effective mechanism to reduce the attrition rates of individuals who are entering graduate programs in the health science disciplines; however, both minorities and males continue to be underrepresented, particularly in the discipline of human communication sciences and disorders. In response to this rapidly growing shortage, several institutions have addressed the need for mentoring; few, however, have provided effective mentoring programs to reverse the shortage of these underrepresented popula- tions. Even fewer have focused on mentoring in graduate education. Given these facts, the purpose of this article is to present 2 models for use in graduate education: a Multiple Mentor Model and a Five-Tier Mentoring Program. Both are designed to reduce attrition rates and enhance student success in acquiring the skills necessary to transition into a professional career. The former is based on the premise that students can benefit from having multiple mentors with varied skills to facilitate their academic, professional, and personal development. The latter consists of 5 components that are essential for a successful mentoring program. The authors also provide recommendations regarding new directions in the field to improve mentoring efforts that will enhance the recruit- ment, retention, graduation, certification, and employ- ment of graduate students.

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