C. elegans Community Mentor Match Program

C. elegans community mentor match program 2023

Goals of the Mentor match program (launched 2020)

• To foster success of junior researchers, especially those who:
  • have identities under-represented in STEM
  • lack extensive resources in their current environment

• To foster connections between members of the C. elegans community

Rationale

We believe that one of the best ways to foster the success and retention of junior researchers is through strategic mentor relationships that extend beyond institutional borders. These relationships can foster connectivity to the broader worm community and allow for advice from beyond a mentee’s immediate network.

In the past, mentees expressed some of the following goals in seeking additional mentorship:

Career Stage	Examples of type of mentorship
Postdoc	Advice about different career paths, fellowship/grant-writing, publishing, job applications, work-life balance, navigating lab relationships, diversity challenges
New PI	navigating the transition to being a PI, starting a new lab, diversity challenges, lab and personnel management, grant-writing, publishing, teaching resources/strategies, preparing for the tenure process
Established PI	transitions to new career stage and leadership roles, changing institutions or fields of study, diversity challenges

Overview and logistics for prospective mentors and mentees

Overview

The mentor match is open to postdoctoral fellows and faculty at any career stage.

Mentees will have the option to:

• be paired with one specific mentor
• join a PEER mentoring group of others at a similar career stage
• both

Priority will be given to prospective mentees who are members of groups that are underrepresented in STEM (e.g., racial, ethnic, LGBTQ+, religious, disability, disadvantaged), or that otherwise face equity challenges.

• While we will consider expanding the program to graduate students in the future, graduate students may wish to consider recruiting community members to their thesis advisory committees if this is acceptable within their departmental procedures.

Match Logistics

Match committee:A match committee composed of at least 2 WormBoard members, 2 past mentees, plus additional mentors (total of 6-10 committee members) will coordinate mentor-mentee contacts. The match committee membership will have broad representation and will turn over in a staggered fashion every ~two years to maintain continuity. In this way, many people in the community will be involved over the years.

Prospective mentors – action required by December 1:==== The match committee will update annually (by January 1 of each calendar year) a list of all potential mentors. These will be collected from an annual survey for prospective mentors that will collect information on their field of study, expertise and experience in both academic and non-academic jobs (e.g. grant review panels, teaching, administrative work, journal work, faculty search committees, industry work), as well as some personal information (e.g., type of institution/workplace, and, optionally, gender, minority group, etc.). The survey includes the timeframe the mentor is available. The prospective mentor list and info will be posted for prospective mentees to access.

A link to the prospective MENTOR survey will be distributed on or about November 1.==== Mentors should sign up anew EACH YEAR that they are available to take a new mentee. Mentors who are maintaining an existing relationship do not need to fill out the survey.

Prospective mentees – action after December 1:==== Mentees will fill out a survey covering your current position, work place, some optional personal information, what you seek help with, your preferences regarding a mentor, etc. In addition, mentees can access the mentor survey results (once available) and will be asked to list people they prefer or would exclude as mentors. Based on all your responses, the match committee will reach out to prospective mentors who will contact you. Once the match is mutually confirmed, the match committee will be notified and the match will be posted on WormBase.

• Prospective mentee/mentor matches can also be made outside the committee. However, we ask that these also be brought to the attention of the match committee, to ensure agreement to guidelines, so that the match can be posted, and so that participants can be contacted in the future to evaluate their experience with the program.
• If a mentee wishes a mentoring committee, they may reach out to additional listed mentors to fill out the committee and indicate to the match committee the outcome.

Guidelines for mentors and mentees – to which all prospective mentors and mentees must agree:

Initial commitment is for one year, with possibility to extend this mentorship if mutually agreeable

Frequency and time of mentor/mentee contact will depend on the goals of the mentee. We recommend contact and/or virtual meetings 3-4 times per year, but this is subject to negotiation.

All parties must agree to a general professional code of conduct including, but not limited to,

• Maintenance of confidentiality and objectivity.
• Maintenance of professional communication.
• Respect for each other’s time (e.g., adherence to meeting times and to mutually set deadlines).
• While both parties are expected to honor the commitment, either party may request to end the match if circumstances change or if the match is unproductive or incompatible. Either or both parties must notify the match committee in this case.
• Timely response to end-of-year Mentor Match survey for program evaluation.

Follow-up

• the match committee is open to feedback throughout the process
• mentors and mentees agree to participate in follow up surveys

Timeline

• November: MENTOR survey open
• December: mentor info posted
• December: MENTEE survey open
• January: match participants notified and matches posted

Watch for updates to the program via WormBase, LabHeads email list & social media.

2023-2024 mentor match committee

Co-CHAIRS

• Andrea Calixto Mohor, <tigonas@gmail.com>, Professor, University of Valparaiso, Chile (Wormboard member)
• Javier Apfeld, <j.apfeld@northeastern.edu>, Associate Professor, Northeastern University, USA

COMMITTEE

• Heather Bennett, <heather.bennett@trincoll.edu>, Assistant Professor, Trinity College, USA (Wormboard member)
• Brent Derry, <brent.derry@sickkids.ca>, Professor, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada (Wormboard member)
• Jon Hibshman, <hibsjo01@email.unc.edu>, Postdoc, University of North Carolina, USA (Wormboard member)
• Massimo Hilliard, <m.hilliard@uq.edu.au>, Professor, University of Queensland, Australia
• Sandhya Koushika, <spkoushika@tifr.res.in>, Associate Professor, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India
• Jeff Medley, <jcmedley@ksu.edu>, Postdoc, Kansas State University, USA
• Dan Shaye, <shaye@uic.edu>, Assistant Professor, The University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
• Ethan Ewe, <ethanewe@gmail.com>, Postdoc, Tel Aviv University, Israel
• Sarah Hall, <shall@syr.edu>, Associate Professor, Syracuse University, USA

C. elegans community on mentor match program v1.0 – November 2020 roll-out

Sander van den Heuvel, Brent Derry, Jane Hubbard (WormBoard mentor match sub-committee)
Sander van den Heuvel, Brent Derry, Jane Hubbard, Meera Sundaram, Bruce Wightman, Heather Bennett, Adelita Mendoza (2020-2021 match committee)

Based on support from the community climate survey of July 2020, we proposed a community wide mentoring plan. See additional details of the initial plan.

News and Updates

• December 13, 2020: Announcing the Mentee Application Phase for 2021

Mentor match initiative

To foster diversity, equity and inclusion in the C. elegans research community, we propose a “mentor match” program to facilitate mentoring relationships for career development.

Rationale

Mentoring within the larger C. elegans community, in contrast to intra-institutional mentoring, provides an opportunity for mentees to gain from the collective experience of the community. The community already does this on an ad hoc basis, but a more open and accessible mentoring program is needed, especially for people who are members of underrepresented groups in our community.

Overview

The mentor match will focus initially on early career investigators and postdoctoral fellows. Priority will be given to prospective mentees who are members of groups that are underrepresented in STEM (e.g., racial, ethnic, LGBTQ+, religious, disability, disadvantaged), or that otherwise face equity challenges.

• While we will consider expanding the program to graduate students in the future, graduate students may wish to consider recruiting community members to their thesis advisory committees if this is acceptable within their departmental procedures.

Match Logistics

Match committee: A match committee composed of 2 WormBoard members plus 2-3 members, each, of prospective/past mentees and mentors (total of 6-8 committee members) will coordinate mentor-mentee contacts. The match committee membership will turn over in a staggered fashion every two years to maintain continuity. In this way, many people in the community will be involved over the years.

Prospective mentors – action required by December 1: The match committee will update annually (by January 1 of each calendar year, starting 2021) a list of all potential mentors. These will be collected from an annual survey for prospective mentors that will collect information on their field of study, expertise and experience in both academic and non-academic jobs (e.g. grant review panels, teaching, administrative work, journal work, faculty search committees, industry work), as well as some personal information (e.g., type of institution/workplace, and, optionally, gender, minority group, etc.). The survey includes the timeframe the mentor is available. The prospective mentor list and info will be posted for prospective mentees to access.

The prospective MENTOR survey is now LIVE and can be found
https://forms.gle/YYoRyxjbDz7ax1Ui8
We would like to post results by Dec 1 for the January 2021 match.

Prospective mentees – action after December 1: Mentees will fill out a survey covering your current position, work place, some optional personal information, what you seek help with, your preferences regarding a mentor, etc. In addition, mentees can access the mentor survey results (once available) will have the option to list people they prefer or would exclude as mentors. Based on all your responses, the match committee will reach out to prospective mentors who will contact you. Once the match is mutually confirmed, the match committee will be notified and the match will be posted on WormBase.

• Prospective mentee/mentor matches can also be made outside the committee. However, we ask that these also be brought to the attention of the match committee, to ensure agreement to guidelines, so that the match can be posted, and so that participants can be contacted in the future to evaluate their experience with the program.
• If a mentee wishes a mentoring committee, they may reach out to additional listed mentors to fill out the committee and indicate to the match committee the outcome.

A link to the prospective MENTEE survey will be distributed after December 1, once the MENTOR survey closes and results are posted.

Guidelines for mentees and mentors – to which all prospective mentors and mentees must agree:

• Both parties agree to a general professional code of mentor/mentee conduct including, but not limited to,
  • maintenance of confidentiality, objectivity and equal partnership
  • maintenance of professional communication
  • respect for each other’s time (e.g., adherence to meeting times and to mutually set deadlines)
  • while both parties are expected to honor the commitment, either party may request to end the match if circumstances change or if the match is unproductive or incompatible. Either or both parties must notify the match committee in this case.
  • Frequency and time of mentor/mentee contact will depend on the goals of the mentee.
  • Recommended contact with mentor via email and/or virtual meetings once every three months, or more frequently at first, but subject to negotiation with mentor.
  • For postdocs, 2 years of mentoring as a starting point, but could extend if both parties agree.
  • For early career investigators, mentoring until promotion, but again, this will be negotiable.

Follow-up

• the match committee is open to feedback throughout the process
• mentors and mentees agree to participate in follow up surveys

Timeline

• November: MENTOR survey open
• December: mentor info posted
• December: MENTEE survey open
• January: match participants notified and matches posted

Watch for updates to the program via WormBase, LabHeads email list & social media.