Faculty Mentors

McNair Mentors are the professionals who help make the McNair Scholars Program a success by assisting our student scholars in a variety of ways.  Our mentors help program participants develop professional work habits, research skills and personal relationships to aid them as they pursue their doctorates. 

The scholars participate in a course focusing on developing effective learning strategies, research methods, advanced library skills, enhanced writing technique and general academic skills.  As a mentor, you will help the scholars put what they’ve learned into action in a very real and important way.  Our mentors play a vital role in the development of the scholars and in the meantime, widen their own professional campus colleague networks.

As the McNair Scholars conclude their research projects, they will make formal presentations to faculty and peers at the McNair Scholars Research Symposium.  They’ll also submit papers summarizing their work with selected papers appearing in the SIU Carbondale McNair Journal.  That’s where you will see what a positive impact you’ve made on these young scholars.

• Meet regularly, preferably each week, with the McNair Scholars
• Involve the scholar with your research group, giving each your individual attention and working with each to design and execute a research project
• Supervise the scholars as they work full-time on research for eight weeks during the summer
• Help them develop research and scholarship skills and suggest valuable readings
• Assign tasks to the scholars and supervise their activities
• Direct them to appropriate seminars, graduate schools, programs and pertinent professional organizations
• Accompany them to professional conferences, graduate school visits/fairs
• Assist scholars with research proposals, oral presentations, research papers and/or poster development
• Provide them with information about securing fellowships, graduate assistantships and loans
• Encourage students to think critically, ask questions, express opinions and respect different viewpoints
• Assist the scholars in developing conceptual and technical skills and writing a report on their research findings
• Guide scholars through the graduate school application process and provide them with information about securing fellowships, graduate assistantships and loans.
• Evaluate the scholar’s research proposal and paper, as well as the overall performance
• Provide McNair Scholars staff with feedback about the effectiveness of program activities

You, our mentors, are vitally important in helping our McNair Scholars succeed.  Through you, they also witness the intellectual commitment and enthusiasm required to succeed in graduate school and beyond!

Research support may be available through the program during the academic year.  The program provides funding for scholars to attend a national professional conference with their mentors and a small supplies budget is provided for each mentor/scholar team.

The McNair Scholars Program promotes academic success in our students and our mentors play an important role.

A variety of resources are available to help our mentors:

• Caring for the Whole Person - Guidelines For Advancing Undergraduate Mentorship
• Weaving Together Undergraduate Research, Mentoring of Junior Faculty, and Assessment