Associate Professor
Learning and Instruction
sarah@buffalo.edu
I value mentoring because it made all the difference in my journey toward and within an academic career. I switched advisors right before defending my dissertation proposal. The timing was not because of a sudden falling out, it was because as a first-gen college, let alone PhD student, I realized I wanted an advisor who would be present on my journey, helping me grow into and as a public intellectual. (I also had positive and productive mentoring experiences with other professors who showed by example what advising/mentoring might look like, feel like.) Bluntly put, advisors and mentors have cultural capital and credentials that I wished to learn about and earn. I wanted an advisor and mentor who understood their privilege and was willing to put a ladder down the ceiling hatch and/or reach a hand down for others to succeed. This values statement guides my mentoring and my advising.
I also value mentoring because it is as much a growth opportunity for me as I hope it will be for the mentee. While a strive to listen, to collectively develop strategies, or to be present as someone works through and toward goals, I learn so much about and from mentees in the process.