Getting the Most out of Your Mentoring Relationships: A Handbook for Women in STEM / Edition 1

by Donna J. Dean

Overview

Mentorship practice has been part of the human experience since the Golden Age of Greece. Engaging with a mentor as a way to learn and achieve one’s full potential is an ancient and respected practice. And, it has been the keystone on which the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) has built its program over the past three decades. Trailblazers, such as Dr. Estelle Ramey and Dr. Anne Briscoe, experienced first-hand the isolation of women in the country’s male-dominated scientific establishment and worked to build an organization that would promote women through mentoring relationships. Dr. Ramey, who earned her degree in p- siology and biophysics and taught at Georgetown Medical School, was a we- known feminist speaker and writer. Noted for her great wit, she once quipped, ‘‘I was startled to learn that ovarian hormones are toxic to brain cells. ’’ Throughout her career, Dr. Ramey decried sexist comments and situations that treated women as less than fully human. She felt very strongly about how little, if anything, it took to extend a helping hand to someone else in a way that could really make a huge difference in her life. As she wrote in her book called Letters to our Grandchildren, ‘‘If I could leave you with any advice, it would be to speak words of caring not only to those closest to you, but to all the hungry ears you encounter on your journey through a cold world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780387924083
Publisher:	Springer New York
Publication date:	04/14/2009
Series:	Mentoring in Academia and Industry , #3
Edition description:	2009
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.60(d)

Table of Contents

How to Use This Guide.- What Is Mentoring?.- Preparing to be Mentored.- Mentoring Relationships.- Changing Dynamics, Changing Needs.- Career and Life Transitions.- Navigating Interpersonal Contexts.- Starting Out with the Right Education.- Moving Toward Career Success.- Voices of Experience.- Provocative Thoughts for a Better Future.- Resources.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Marion C. Cohen, PhD (SUNY Downstate Medical Center)
Description: This book is part of a series that, according to its editor, is designed to promote the progress of scientific research and education by improving academic and career building skills. It discusses mentoring at all career levels with a specific focus on the needs of young women wishing to enter scientific disciplines or those who have already embarked on their careers.
Purpose: It is intended to provide guidance on a variety of issues related to mentoring women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for the protege rather than the mentor, but both will benefit from its observations.
Audience: Although the book targets female undergraduates, graduate students, medical students, and postdoctoral fellows, it raises issues and presents possible scenarios that would be useful for both men and women. Moreover, while the book is a guide for mentees, it provides advice for mentors as well. The author, Donna J. Dean, PhD, through her experience as a researcher as well as her activities with the Association of Women in Science (AWIS) has the background and experience to be an authority in this area.
Features: The book captures the essence of the important aspects of the mentor-mentee relationship. It differentiates between advisor and mentor because, while the advisor may be a mentor, the reverse is not necessarily true. The book covers the best aspects of mentoring, but also attempts to characterize what might turn out to be a bad mentoring situation and how to get out of it. It describes the differences in treatment between women and men, noting that there has been some progress towards equalization but there is still a way to go. There is also a discussion of the problems faced by underrepresented minorities in STEM. At the least, it will make some readers realize that they are not alone. However, one unexpected aspect to this is that in some examples, race or ethnicity are used as descriptors when they are not relevant issues (p. 87). One interesting section describes how to give a talk that would serve as a good basic guide for someone whose advisor or mentor fell down on the job. Overall, many of the issues the book raises will provoke an "I knew that!" response, but seeing them in a well-organized setting can be very helpful. There is also a list of resources, primarily organizations and groups interested in women's issues in the sciences, as well as a short reference list.
Assessment: This relatively short, easy-to-read treatise on mentoring should be in the library of any student interested in a STEM career as well in the libraries of mentors and advisors. It includes a lot of practical suggestions of what to look for in a mentor as well as what a protege needs from a mentor. Moreover, it forces mentors to consider the type of mentee they are willing to sponsor. It also makes the point that we need different kinds of mentors at different stages of our careers and that most of us need mentors throughout our careers.

Doody's Review Service

From the reviews:

"This book … is designed to promote the progress of scientific research and education by improving academic and career building skills. … the book targets female undergraduates, graduate students, medical students, and postdoctoral fellows, it raises issues and presents possible scenarios that would be useful for both men and women. … a guide for mentess, it provides advice for mentors as well. … should be in the library of any student interested in a STEM career as well in the libraries of mentors and advisors." (Marion C. Cohen, Doody’s Review Service, September, 2009)

"This book aims to be a reflective guide to women seeking mentoring relationships … in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers. … This book is more general in its approach and certainly has its place among the literature related to women in STEM disciplines. … one of many books aimed at helping women in the STEM fields be more productive and satisfied with their careers. … There are many useful points throughout the text … . Scientists … will certainly benefit from this book." (Julie A. Stenken, Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, September, 2009)

“The strengths of this book are its parsimony, user-friendly structure and tone, breadth of topics, and practical orientation, it is clearly by women in science writing for women in science. … this book has much to recommend it to women in science, who even today are not yet situated similarly to their male colleagues. This guide makes a good beginning for women students of science, and its encouraging, welcoming tone and readability are congenial for undergraduate audiences as well as graduates and early-career scientists.” (Sharon Rae Jenkins, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 55 (25), June, 2010)

“In a recent book, ‘Getting the Most out of Your Mentoring Relationships: A Handbook for Women in STEM,’ by Donna J. Dean offers readers insight into howto expand these contacts into better learning experiences. … organized to be the ideal field guide for recent graduates, postdocs, and young women moving into the professional realm. … Additionally, the book can help first time mentors offer their mentees better advice by recognizing some of the traps they themselves might not notice they are walking into.” (STEM Trends, July, 2009)

From the Publisher

Reviewer: Marion C. Cohen, PhD(SUNY Downstate Medical Center)
Description: This book is part of a series that, according to its editor, is designed to promote the progress of scientific research and education by improving academic and career building skills. It discusses mentoring at all career levels with a specific focus on the needs of young women wishing to enter scientific disciplines or those who have already embarked on their careers.
Purpose: It is intended to provide guidance on a variety of issues related to mentoring women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for the protege rather than the mentor, but both will benefit from its observations.
Audience: Although the book targets female undergraduates, graduate students, medical students, and postdoctoral fellows, it raises issues and presents possible scenarios that would be useful for both men and women. Moreover, while the book is a guide for mentees, it provides advice for mentors as well. The author, Donna J. Dean, PhD, through her experience as a researcher as well as her activities with the Association of Women in Science (AWIS) has the background and experience to be an authority in this area.
Features: The book captures the essence of the important aspects of the mentor-mentee relationship. It differentiates between advisor and mentor because, while the advisor may be a mentor, the reverse is not necessarily true. The book covers the best aspects of mentoring, but also attempts to characterize what might turn out to be a bad mentoring situation and how to get out of it. It describes the differences in treatment between women and men, noting that there has been some progress towards equalization but there is still a way to go. There is also a discussion of the problems faced by underrepresented minorities in STEM. At the least, it will make some readers realize that they are not alone. However, one unexpected aspect to this is that in some examples, race or ethnicity are used as descriptors when they are not relevant issues (p. 87). One interesting section describes how to give a talk that would serve as a good basic guide for someone whose advisor or mentor fell down on the job. Overall, many of the issues the book raises will provoke an "I knew that!" response, but seeing them in a well-organized setting can be very helpful. There is also a list of resources, primarily organizations and groups interested in women's issues in the sciences, as well as a short reference list.
Assessment: This relatively short, easy-to-read treatise on mentoring should be in the library of any student interested in a STEM career as well in the libraries of mentors and advisors. It includes a lot of practical suggestions of what to look for in a mentor as well as what a protege needs from a mentor. Moreover, it forces mentors to consider the type of mentee they are willing to sponsor. It also makes the point that we need different kinds of mentors at different stages of our careers and that most of us need mentors throughout our careers.