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The Editor�s Bookshelf

As engineering educators, we know that the faculty/student relationship can/should be an important element of the student�s educational experience. For many faculty members, finding the time for this or knowing how to use our time and the student�s time effectively can be frustrating. Recently the National Academy Press published a monograph that offers new insights to a significant segment of the faculty/student relationship: Advisor, Teacher, Role Model, Friend: On Being a Mentor to Students in Science and Engineering, National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1997 (84 pages).

This book had its origins in the National Research Council Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy (COSEPUP). The preface suggests something of this background.

"This guide�intended for faculty members, teachers, administrators, and others who advise and mentor students of science and engineering�attempts to summarize features that are common to successful mentoring relationships. Its goal is to encourage mentoring habits that are in the best interest of both parties to the relationship. While this guide is meant for mentoring students in science and engineering, the majority of it is widely applicable to mentoring in any field."
"This guide is descended from a series of related publications. The original concept grew out of the Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP) report, Reshaping the Graduate Education of Scientists and Engineers (1995), which showed the students need to be flexibly prepared for a range of careers and urged the graduate education be revised so as to prepare students better for productive and satisfying careers."

The term "guide" expresses the function of the book. The guide should complement other material and assist mentors and advisors in understanding how they might help students identify and respond to the challenges of becoming scientists or engineers.

A review of the Table of Contents reveals that the guide describes, in simple terms, what a mentor does. The chapter titles suggest several roles for the mentor: Faculty Advisor, Career Advisor, Skills Consultant, Role Model. The guide also gives some helpful resources for mentors. In the first chapter, "What is a Mentor?" the authors note that "A fundamental difference between a mentor and an advisor is that mentoring is more than advising; mentoring is a personal as well as a professional relationship. An advisor might or might not be a mentor, depending on the quality of the relationship."

Although the origins for the guide have been largely the graduate and research programs in our universities and colleges, undergraduate programs receive their share of attention. If you have been hearing about being a mentor for students and want to know more about what this means, this guide is easy to read and a good place to start.�

Edward W. Ernst
Allied Signal Professor of Engineering
Swearingen Engineering Center
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
(803) 777-7990

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