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= Premium Content Log In | Create a Free Account | Subscribe Now Wednesday, November 25, 2009 Subscribe Today! Home News OpInion & Ideas Facts & Figures Topics Jobs Advice Forums $('#navbarbtnForums').attr("href", "/forums/"); Events Faculty AdmInistration Technology Community Colleges International Special Reports People The Ticker Current Issue Faculty Home News Faculty function check() { if (document.getElementById("searchInput").value == '' ) { alert('Please enter search terms'); return false; } else return true; } $().ready(function() { $('#email-popup').jqm({trigger: 'a.show-email', modal: 'true'}); $('#share-popup').jqm({trigger: 'a.show-share', modal: 'true'}); }); E-mail function prIntPage() { wIndow.prInt(); } $(document).ready(function(){ $('.prInt-btn').click(prIntPage); }); PrInt Share August 1, 2003 The Catalytic Mentor By PIPER FOGG An award-wInnIng chemist at Rutgers U. takes students under her wIngHere on the maIn campus of Rutgers University, Martha Greenblatt often passes buildIngs that were once part of Camp Kilmer, a military base that received European refugees In the 1950s. An Internationally known chemist, the Rutgers professor remembers the camp from her days as a teenager from Hungary, alone and unsure of what lay ahead. Now her lab is filled with smart young graduate students from ChIna, Russia, Turkey, and the United States. Over the years, she has had 27 graduate students and 25 postdoctoral students In her lab. Because of her own personal and professional experiences, she understands what they are goIng through, and she goes out of her way to guide them. That means pushIng them In their research, encouragIng them to make outside contacts, even coachIng some In English, all to develop In them the skills to become Independent thInkers and successful scientists. In the sprIng, Ms. Greenblatt, 62, received the Francis P. Garvan-John M. OlIn Medal, given annually In recognition of significant achievements by a female chemist In America. The American Chemical Society honored her as "a leadIng solid-state chemist and scholar, teacher, science advocate, and outstandIng role model." The award is particularly satisfyIng to her because it celebrates her servIng as a mentor to young scientists. In addition, the university has made her a Board of Governors professor, the highest rank a Rutgers faculty member can hold. In any field, a great mentor can make a big difference. But, In the sciences, such a figure can mean the difference between a lackluster dissertation and a mediocre job offer, on the one hand, and a publication that is a catalys

In any field, a great mentor can make a big difference. But, In the sciences, such a figure can mean the difference between a lackluster dissertation and a mediocre job offer, on the one hand, and a publication that is a catalyst for a promisIng career In academe or Industry, on the other. An effective mentor acts as an advocate, a role model, and a guide to academic and professional development.

At the height of Plumb's career through the 1960s and early 1970s, the word "mentor" was used only occasionally in academe or the corporate world.

The era of the mentor began in earnest only in the mid-1970s. The Yale psychologist Daniel J. Levinson, best known for his studies of middle age, had a precise definition quoted in The Christian Science Monitor on February 14, 1977: a person 8 to 15 years older than the "mentee," a "peer or older brother" rather than a "distant father." Levinson continued: "He takes the younger man under his wing, ... imparts his wisdom, cares, sponsors, criticizes, and bestows his blessing."

Corporate mentoring took center stage in 1978 and 1979 with two articles in the Harvard Business Review. The title of the first, an interview with a group of senior executives from the Jewel Companies, echoes to this day: "Everyone Who Makes It Has a Mentor."

In every assistant professor there seems to lurk a Karate Kid seekIng a Mr. Miyagi who will traIn his acolyte to be a skilled warrior In the art of research, teachIng, and service and impart pithy life lessons along the way. Such sIngular folks exist, and you may fInd one. But it's far more likely that you will fInd several mentors who, while not well-versed In all aspects of academic life, will offer good advice In one or another area.

Someone who got tenure 30 years ago may not appreciate what it takes to get tenure today. The young tenure tracker may not know, or catch on quickly enough, that the same mentor who is a wizard of statistical methodology is offering awful advice about handling disruptions in the classroom. Or perhaps the issue is transference: A scholar may excel at conceptualizing new theory, for example, but may not be good at teaching others to do likewise.

In the words of Ronald Reagan, one should "trust but verify."