Mentoring Plans

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Mentoring Plans for Postdoctoral Scholars

Mentoring can have a profound influence on the relative satisfaction and success of postdoctoral scholars. Mentoring plans are tools to help optimize the mentoring experience by providing a roadmap for both the mentor and the postdoc of the activities that will be undertaken to further the postdoc's professional and career development. This includes support for the enrichment of a postdoc's research knowledge, skills, and productivity as well as assistance in furthering the postdoc's career prospects. This mentoring toolkit includes resources developed by the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) for how to draft a mentoring plan, suggestions for effective mentoring activities, and other resources on effective mentoring.

Please note: The recommendations and suggestions for a mentoring plan made herein have not been endorsed by the NIH, the NSF, or any other government organization. The National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) is providing this toolkit of best practices as a service to its members.

Developing a Postdoctoral Mentoring Plan (General Information)
For Postdoctoral Scholars: How to Be Proactive in Your Mentoring Relationships
- The Association for Women in Science (AWIS) has just released a new book on mentoring directed to those desiring mentoring. Follow this link to learn more.
NSF Mentoring Requirement
Mentoring Resources
- Mentoring in the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
  - Download The Postdoctoral Experience in the SBE Sciences, a report based on the proceeds of a workshop attended by NSF SBE Sciences Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellows on October 29, 2010. Please note: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1049638. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

ATTENTION: JAM attendees

Cathee Johnson Phillips, the Principal Investigator for NPA's ADVANCE-PAID project, presented on mentoring plans for postdoctoral associates at the NSF JAM on June 9, 2009. Download the presentation: Mentoring Plans for Postdoctoral Associates. Contact Cathee at cjphillips at nationalpostdoc.org.

National Postdoctoral Association