Advising Resources for Faculty

The advising relationship is one that has a profound impact on the Princeton experience for graduate students across fields and research projects. Here, we have compiled resources intended to assist faculty in cultivating a meaningful, mutually beneficial advising engagement.

Minimum Standards and Requirements

The Task Force on Graduate Student Mentoring determined it is valuable to have minimum standards and requirements for frequency and quality of graduate advising and mentoring made explicit. While faculty advisors routinely meet and exceed advisees’ expectations, the task force members believe that codifying minimum acceptable standards helps the rare student who may have difficulty securing meetings with or receiving feedback from the adviser. At the same time, minimum acceptable standards may be structured in a way that places an obligation on the student to meet requirements associated with certain of these standards, thereby making graduate students equally responsible and invested in the mentoring enterprise.

Creating a Culture of Belonging and Respect

Princeton’s graduate programs attract students from all over the world, creating a rich intersection of academic interests, identity intersections, and professional and personal experiences. The diversity of our graduate student population provides us with new opportunities for continued growth as well as more opportunities to create a culture of belonging and respect. Developing a culture of belonging and respect within the institution, graduate programs, and research groups is a top priority of our institution and each adviser and mentor plays a crucial role in fostering this culture of belonging and respect.  Offices across our campus are committed to ensuring a diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning and working environment at Princeton, and strive to facilitate the identification of individuals and resources readily available.

Best Practices and Support Materials

Meetings: Frequency and Feedback

From the 2019 task force report on mentoring and advising, a new policy was formed to codify minimum requirements for meetings between Ph.D. students and their dissertation research advisers, as well as additional faculty in the department, was formulated. The Faculty Committee on the Graduate School, which is comprised of all DGS across the University, voted to approve a new policy that codifies minimum requirements for meetings between Ph.D. students and their dissertation research advisers as well as additional faculty in the department.  View the full policy.

Meeting Student Needs

Supporting Student Wellbeing

Mental health and wellbeing is essential for academic and personal success. Frequently reported stressors include depression, isolation, adviser/advisee relationship, imposter syndrome, finances, harassment and discrimination. Advisers can help by creating a supportive environment and actively promoting a culture of well-being.