No matter how formal or informal your mentoring agreements may be, as your protégés progress through the graduate experience, you might need to revisit roles and responsibilities and revise your understandings together. Some responsibilities to address early, especially if you are also the student's advisor or thesis/dissertation committee chair, include:

Ask your students to develop and share with you a general work plan, including short- and long-term goals, and establish reasonable timelines. Make sure these plans are feasible and meet the academic program's requirements. Agree upon a time for students to update you at least once a quarter (e.g., via a meeting, memo or e-mail) on progress made and obstacles encountered. Discuss any additional training and experiences students need to achieve their goals. If adjusting timelines becomes necessary, work together to agree upon new plans.

Talk with your students about how often you can meet. Be explicit if you have a heavy travel schedule, are about to take a sabbatical, or will be assuming an administrative position. If you are unable to meet often enough to satisfy students' needs, discuss alternative means of communication such as e-mail, and help students think of others to consult. You also can identify issues you feel require a face-to-face meeting and those that can be dealt with in other ways. Let students know if they may contact you at home, and under what circumstances calls are appropriate. Also, ask them whether you can contact them at home.

Some professors prefer students to take responsibility for arranging and leading meetings while others prefer to share the responsibility. Some prefer students to prepare agendas in advance so as to maximize time together. Whichever is true for you, communicate this to your protégés and extend them a clear invitation to contact you when they need help.

Discuss how often you will give feedback on students' progress and what type of feedback they can expect from you. In all cases, explain to protégés how you intend your feedback to help their intellectual and professional growth.

Explain how long it generally takes you to review students' work, and let them know how they can best follow up if you are unable to reply within the specified time frame. For instance, you might like an e-mail or phone reminder a few days before the agreed-upon date. Each time students submit work to you, let them know when they can expect you to return it. Take these opportunities to remind students of your feedback style and your expectations.

Explain what you expect first drafts to look like before they are submitted to you. If you do not want students to deliver rough drafts to you, suggest they share their work with a trusted peer or writing group first. When your students submit successive drafts, ask them to highlight revised sections to save you from unnecessarily re-reading the full document.

Discuss with protégés your philosophy and expectations about co-authorship, as well as your willingness to help them prepare work for submission to journals and conferences. Ask students what writing/speaking goals they have.

If you have invited a student to work closely with you on a research project, clarify who owns the collected data and whether others will be able to have access. Consideration for the ownership and sharing of research is important in all disciplines. Discuss the ownership of any copyright and patent agreements that might occur as a result of a collaborative project. For further information, contact the UNL Office of Research.

All research involving human subjects that is performed or supervised by UNL faculty, staff, or students must be reviewed by the UNL Office of Research Responsibility. It is an essential part of a faculty mentor's responsibilities to advise students to seek human subjects review and approval prior to the beginning of research activities. Research with human subjects cannot be retroactively reviewed and approved. Moreover, performing a human subjects study without prior review and approval is considered "serious non-compliance" according to federal regulations, and must be brought to a full Institutional Review Board for inquiry and action. More information is available from the Office of Research Responsibility.

Mentors and students who develop close relationships sometimes discuss confidential issues. Be clear about the confidentiality you would like accorded to you regarding sensitive issues you might disclose, and offer strict confidentiality to your protégé.

Let students know how much time you need to write letters on their behalf. Ask them to help you by giving you information about the fellowship, grant, or program to which they are applying, including updated copies of their curriculum vitae. Ask students to provide details about the areas of their experience they would like you to emphasize. In your letters, try to address multiple facets of students' work. Some faculty visit classes or labs taught by their graduate students so they can address teaching abilities in their recommendation letters.