1.1 Rewards for the Mentor

There are both personal and professional benefits of becoming a mentor. Consider the following non-exhaustive list of benefits:

• Expansion of a lasting career network;
• A way to “give back” to the school and to the profession;
• A way to recruit employees for the mentor’s industry and/or company;
• Generation of creative ideas, the result of listening to different perspectives from less experienced students;
• Promotion of curiosity teaching mentees how to ask researchable questions;
• Development of new talent;
• Enhanced professional life, intellectual growth, and professional development;
• Expanded engagement through collaborations with like-minded peers;
• Establishment of a feedback loop between students and school regarding curriculum needs;
• Feeling of accomplishment (helping mentee participate in a research agenda that furthers their academic goals);
• Improvement of teaching practice using evidence-based learning principles;
• Recognition of service at the college level for participation in fulfilling university goals;
• Opportunity to present collaborations at local/state/national meetings;
• Satisfaction from modeling discipline-specific protocols and sharing that experience;
• Participation as a role model to others; and
• Respected way to share knowledge in the field.

The process of mentoring and experiences gained from it are relationship-based. The mentor who invests time, energy, effort, and expertise in the process can expect to receive satisfaction, pleasure, gratification, and pride from the undergraduate research relationship. The rewards for the mentee, as discussed in the next section, should also be satisfying both personally and professionally.