Mentoring by graduate advisors is a central pillar to graduate level education. Mentoring relationships serve to:

• integrate a student into the culture of a department;
• foster the development of critical professional and social networks;
• help students gain core research competencies; and
• provide a pathway for graduates to succeed in their career goals.

To help guide policy and recommended best practices in graduate level mentoring, the Graduate Council and Faculty Senate, in association with the Graduate School, are requesting feedback on the mentoring experiences of graduate and professional students. All graduate and professional students, regardless of degree or program, are highly encouraged to complete this survey.

Mentoring comes in a wide array of forms and aims to achieve an equally diverse set of outcomes. This makes it inherently difficult to assess the quality of mentoring across the entirety of graduate programs. Despite the diverse and abstract nature of mentoring, the Graduate Council, the Faculty Senate, and the Graduate School, are committed to ensuring every graduate and professional student at UT receives appropriate mentoring. 

The survey is anonymous and does not collect any identifying information. However, participants are asked to take care that no identifying information is provided in answers to open questions when completing the survey. Completion of the survey should require no more than 10-15 mins.

The feedback of graduate and professional students is foundational to improve mentoring for all GradVols across campus. The more we understand the experiences of our graduate and professional students, the more effectively we can ensure their success here at UT and beyond.