Mentoring Scenario 4 Discussion

This may be an opportunity to open a discussion with the graduate program head about your difficulties. A straightforward admission of your problems and your worries about missing class might lead to mentoring opportunities that will help you in your classes. If the graduate chair is not approachable, then a similar discussion with your professors might also provide some positive benefits.

Points that an Outside Observer Might Raise

• Is attending the meeting an appropriate (ethical) request to make to this student?
   
• If a student were worried about classroom performance, would he or she be afraid to refuse the request of his program chair?
   
•  Is there a better way to recruit students to attend meetings of this type than targeting individual students?
   
• Have the graduate counselors in the department worked with this student in planning an appropriate program?
   
• If the graduate chair is not viewed as approachable by the student, why not?
  

It is not always easy to confront personality issues in a department, but one way or another, a department needs to make advisors or program coordinators available whom students feel able to talk to.

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