The Graduate Advisor Handbook A Student-Centered Approach

About this book

In the sink-or-swim world of academia, a great graduate advisor can be a lifesaver. But with university budgets shrinking and free time evaporating, advisors often need a mentor themselves to learn how to best support their advisees. Bruce M. Shore, an award-winning advisor with more than forty years of advising experience, is just the coach that graduate advisors need. With The Graduate Advisor Handbook: A Student-Centered Approach, Shore demystifies the advisor-student relationship, providing tips and practical advice that will help both students and advisors thrive. One of the first books to approach advising from the advisor's point of view, the handbook highlights the importance of a partnership in which both parties need to be invested. Shore emphasizes the interpersonal relationships at the heart of advising and reveals how advisors can draw on their own strengths to create a rewarding rapport.

The Graduate Advisor Handbook: A Student-Centered Approach moves chronologically through the advising process, from the first knock on the door to the last reference letter. Along the way it covers transparent communication, effective motivation, and cooperative troubleshooting. Its clear-eyed approach also tackles touchy subjects, including what to do when personal boundaries are crossed and how to deliver difficult news. Sample scripts help advisors find the right words for even the toughest situations. With resources dwindling and student and advising loads increasing, graduate advisors need all the resources they can find to give their students the help they need.

The Graduate Advisor Handbook: A Student-Centered Approach has the cool-headed advice and comprehensive coverage that advisors need to make the advising relationship not just effective but also enjoyable.

Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
 
1          Beginning the Advisory Relationship
Working from Strengths
Advising Takes Different Forms
Making the Commitment
 
2          Student-Centered Advising
Building Autonomy
Financial Support
Sensitivity to Changes in Student Needs
Academic Integrity
Time Counts
Scaffolding and Self-Monitoring Progress
 
3          Maintaining Boundaries in Routine Interactions
Distinguishing Work and Home
Maintaining Balance
Cultural Sensitivity
Socializing at Home
Socializing in Academic Settings
Physical Contact
Hard News
Life Coaching
 
4          Quagmires and Sticky Situations
Advisor versus Advisor
Refugees and Wanderers
Conflict and Rivalry among Advisees
Procrastination and Delays
Disclosures
Conflicts of Interest
Sex
 
5          Career Support
Beyond the Fixed Curriculum
Reference Letters
Publishing Together
Mentoring

6          Institutionalizing a Culture of Student-Centered Advising
 
Appendix 1: Additional Reading
Appendix 2: Sample Contract for Graduate Advising
Appendix 3: Student-Centered Advising Checklist
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Bruce M. Shore is professor emeritus of educational psychology in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology at McGill University. He lives in Montreal, Quebec, and winters in Tucson, Arizona.