As a faculty member, you are an academic role model for undergraduate and graduate students. When you work with students in the lab or classes, they will need your help in academic issues, and may even approach you with concerns they have beyond Caltech. Resources available on campus that can help you be an effective advisor are highlighted in the links below. They include information on the formal advisor role that you can take, your interactions with students in the classroom and lab, and how you can help students in their career paths.
Advising and Mentoring Students
- The Freshman Advising Handbook can help you advise first year undergraduates. Though centered around advising freshmen, many tips included in the handbook can apply to advising any level of undergraduate.
- Since students register for classes on REGIS, advisers will be e-mailed student course information through REGIS. It is recommended that when you get the information from the Registrar you check out which classes your student advisees are taking each term, and do not approve their classes until you have met with your advisee. Please check out the Registar's Faculty REGIS Help Guide.
- It is very helpful to your students if you:
- give academic and research guidance
- are familiar with the courses in the student's option
- strongly discourage them from overloading (most options only require an average of 40 units/term for graduation)
- get to know them so you can write recommendation letters
- keep solid communication with them to elucidate your expectations and availability
- meet them outside the office once a year, at least (check in your department and with the Deans' Office to see what kind of funding you can get for dinners)
- have enough knowledge about the Deans' Office, Counseling Center, and other relevant offices to be able to refer students for further help, if necessary
In the Classroom
- If a student is experiencing difficulty with the material in your class, you can advise the student to go to the Deans' Office, and take advantage of the Dean's Tutors program (which provides free Caltech tutors for students!). There tutors for all the core classes, and the Deans will also work to identify tutors for upper-level classes.
- If a student is doing well in your class, you may want to recruit the student to do research in your lab or to be a TA for a later term. If the student is an undergraduate, check with your department to see if undergraduate TAs are allowed. Both of these are opportunities that would help further the student's academic career.
In the Lab
- April White Castaneda, of the Staff Education and Career Development Office, can help you develop your lab to make it more friendly for advising your students. A resource that this office suggests you look at when starting a lab, or troubleshooting within your lab, is the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's suggested tips for Setting Up Shop and Laboratory Management.
- If things go wrong, the Staff & Faculty Consultation Center provides confidential, off-the-record problem-solving and conflict resolution services to the Caltech community. Campus-related problems of a sensitive nature can be discussed in complete confidence.
- If you want to learn how to facilitate conversations about gender equity and awareness in your group then contact the Women's Center.
Beyond the Classroom and Lab
- For advice on careers and preparation for graduate school or professional school applications, you can direct your students to the Career Development Center, which provides individualized counseling sessions, workshops, and fairs.
- Advising Underrepresented Students provides information on what you can do to show your students more of life in academia. Although the tips were written specifically for advising underrepresented students, they can help you in introducing your other students to academia too.
Highly Recommended
The National Academy of Sciences has compiled a useful reference handbook entitled Advisor, Teacher, Role Model, Friend: On being a Mentor to Students in Science and Engineering.