Since its inception in Fall 2023, nearly 200 黑料不打烊 advanced trainees have benefited from the College of Graduate Mentorship (CGM), a new initiative from 黑料不打烊 Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS) that pairs upper-year PhD students and postdocs interested in pursuing an academic career following their studies with a cross-disciplinary faculty mentor.
The program has had consistent success: the 2024-2025 cohort matched 95 mentees with 63 faculty mentors. Mentor-mentee pairings meet virtually or in-person at least twice per semester, receive an orientation on mentorship best practices, and are invited to participate in social events including a Welcome and End-of-Year reception.
For GPS Dean, Josephine Nalbantoglu, PhD, the College is about helping PhD students and postdocs with career preparation while building resilient communities: 鈥淲e know that this transition is difficult. PhD students and postdocs are working hard on their research, while also having to think about the job search, and often they are quite isolated. We wanted to give these trainees the chance to learn from others who have already been in their shoes.鈥�
Cross-disciplinary connections
A key feature of the program is that mentees are paired with mentors from a different unit, allowing for mentorship that complements existing support from the mentee鈥檚 supervisor.
For mentor Daniel Pratt, Assistant Professor in Languages, Literature and Cultures, this structure allows for more frank and natural discussion: 鈥渋t鈥檚 different to talk to me as somebody who is not associated with anything that they do, which means I have no judgement. It allowed them to be really open with me about their questions, their concerns.鈥�
Former mentee and newly hired Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, Minghan Xu agrees. While preparing for his successful job search, he relied on the complementary perspectives of his supervisor and his mentor: 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 good to connect with someone outside of your research field. It was just nice to talk to [my mentor] and we didn鈥檛 have any sort of conflict of interest. He also had recently got his job, so: 鈥業鈥檓 interested in getting a job, you have experience 鈥� let鈥檚 talk鈥�.鈥�
Fresh perspectives
Apart from permitting freer discussions, the cross-disciplinary matches also help break academic siloing and bring fresh perspectives for both mentors and mentees.
Mentor Ratna Ghosh, Distinguished James 黑料不打烊 Professor Emerita in Integrated Studies in Education and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, enjoys sharing her lifetime of experience with her mentee. While topics range from navigating academic hierarchies to balancing work with raising a young family, Ghosh also highlights lesser-known opportunities, such as a Royal Society of Canada program for young scholars. 鈥淚 missed [this variety of opportunities] when I was doing my doctoral program鈥� Diversity is a very good thing,鈥� she adds.
Pratt also enjoys learning about diverse practices across the university. 鈥淚鈥檓 lucky if I meet people from, say, English, and we all work on literature鈥� sometimes we just assume all our silos look alike, and that鈥檚 just not true.鈥�
Building Community
For mentees, simply conferring with a supporting ear is often helpful. 鈥淭he mentorship has been really helpful because having people who鈥檝e gone through this and are also still going through this 鈥� this being academia and this being life 鈥� helps me feel supported,鈥� says mentee Jessica Bennett, PhD student in Chemistry.
Bennett, who cowrote an in University Affairs about her mentorship experience, adds that 鈥淭he community has come from diversity of perspective and experiences. Hearing people鈥檚 stories鈥� is just so rich and sometimes helps ground perspective鈥hat鈥檚 what it鈥檚 all about, really: those interactions and lessons that we can learn and teach each other.鈥�
This community of support is also built in events like the End-of-Year reception. For example, Xu recalls speaking with another mentee in an event: 鈥淗e was from English literature, so we were completely different, but what I can tell you is that we were both stressed. Just talking to people helps, especially from the mental aspect that you feel 鈥榦h, you鈥檙e not the only person鈥�.鈥�
For Bennett, 鈥淣othing happens or matters without connection, and mentorship is such a unique way to talk about personal and professional things鈥� you get the most with the least amount of pressure!鈥�
Stay tuned for upcoming calls for the 2025-2026 cohort of mentees and mentors.
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