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Center for Teaching Excellence

  • Entering Mentoring

Entering Mentoring

Certificate of Completion

Now, more than ever, students engaged in research expect to receive effective mentoring as a part of their entry into the scholarly community. The Entering Mentoring training is an evidence-based, interactive approach to becoming an effective mentor that will help develop the skills for engaging in productive, culturally responsive mentoring relationships, relationships that optimize success for the mentor and the mentee.

Program Requirements

Faculty, instructors, and graduate assistants who wish to earn the certificate of completion must complete two (2) required workshops and four (4) elective workshops within three (3) major semesters.

Individuals who successfully complete Entering Mentoring will receive a certificate of completion and a digital badge which can be added to the trained Mentor’s personal website.

Required Workshops Offered Spring 2025

Tuesday, April 15, 1:15pm - 2:30pm

Reflecting upon your mentoring relationships is a vital part of becoming a more effective mentor. This is especially important immediately following a mentor-mentee training sequence like Entering Mentoring as it allows you to consider how to implement changes in your mentoring practice based on the training you have received. The ability and practice of reflecting on your mentoring at regular intervals is strongly encouraged.  Register

Elective Workshops Offered Spring 2025

Tuesday, January 28, 1:15pm - 2:30pm

Determining whether mentees understand core concepts about the research they are doing is critical to a productive mentoring relationship, but it is surprisingly difficult to do. Developing strategies to assess how well mentees understand the purpose of their research, the principles underpinning their research and experimental techniques, and the context of their work is an important part of becoming an effective mentor. Moreover, it is important for mentors to be able to identify causes for confusion among mentees and strategies to address misunderstandings.  Register

Tuesday, February 18, 1:15pm - 2:30pm

A goal of most mentoring situations is to enable the mentee to identify and achieve both academic and professional objectives. Though learning to do disciplinary research is an important academic outcome in research mentoring relationships, there are many other outcomes that will influence a mentee’s future career. Mentors should consciously consider and support their mentees to achieve these other outcomes.  Register

Tuesday, March 18, 1:15pm - 2:30pm

Learning to identify, reflect upon, learn from, and engage with people who are different from ourselves is essential for fostering an effective mentoring relationship and a broader intellectual community. This workshop will help you increase your own understanding of inclusivity on mentor/mentee interactions, recognize the impact of conscious and unconscious preconceptions, biases, and prejudices, and identify concrete strategies for addressing issues of community and inclusivity.  Register

About the Program

Entering Mentoring accelerates the process of becoming an effective mentor by introducing a framework for mentoring, providing opportunities to experiment with different methods of mentoring, and a forum for peer-to-peer problem solving. This allows new and experienced mentors alike to benefit from each other’s perspectives as well as extended reflection on fundamental principles of mentoring. By the conclusion of training, mentors will be able to articulate a personal style and philosophy of mentoring and develop a set of strategies they can use to engage with challenging mentoring situations.

Entering Mentoring training, based on the work done by the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER) at the University of Wisconsin, has been shown to be effective in increasing mentor knowledge, skills, and behavior. Furthermore, the emphasis on culturally sensitive interactions between mentors and mentees can help historically underrepresented groups successfully progress in their own careers and, in turn, become successful mentors and leaders in their own right. The Entering Mentoring curriculum addresses the NIGMS and NIH guidelines for the preparation of mentors who are involved with training grants.


How to Earn a Certificate of Completion

  1. Select a certificate you want to earn.
  2. Review the required workshops.
  3. Register for and attend all required workshops within the time frame specified.
  4. Look for an email from cte@sc.edu with your digital certificate.

How to Check Your Progress

Participants can check their progress online by following the steps below. 

  1. Log into Registration and Tracking System for Workshops and Events using your CTE Training Account credentials.
  2. Click on the specific learning plan for the certificate of completion program you would like to view.  The learning plan button is located on the left-hand side in the menu screen.
  3. Click “View” to generate a personalized learning plan status report. The report will show the workshops you have taken, and remaining workshop requirements.

The learning plans also provide a status progress update. 

  • Partial means you have met some of the requirements for a specific certificate of completion program.
  • Complete means you have met all the requirements for a specific certificate of completion program.
  • Not Started means you have not completed any of the requirements for a specific certificate of completion program.

Completed your certificate?

At the conclusion of each semester, reports are run to determine who has completed each certificate. Digital Certificates will be emailed. If you do not receive your certificate by the middle of the following semester, kindly contact cte@sc.edu for assistance.


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