Mentoring and Making it in Academe: A Guide for Newcomers to the Ivory Tower

Mentoring is vital to success in both achieving a doctorate and in establishing a productive, satisfying career. Yet, the current apprenticeship model of doctoral education leaves many students feeling mystified, isolated, and overwhelmed. This book provides an antidote to marginalization in the academy. Drawing from the experiences of current and recent doctoral candidates, Mentoring and Making It illuminates the often covert norms of the academic enterprise and provides a rich and detailed overview of the steps involved in "becoming a PhD." Written for students aspiring toward the doctorate, current doctoral candidates, and PhDs positioned at any step on the tenure ladder, Mentoring and Making It is an essential guide for PhD earners in their quest to create a rewarding career path within or outside of the ivory tower.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Introduction: Becoming a PhD Chapter 2 Before You Begin: Choosing an Advisor, Finding a Mentor Chapter 3 Mentoring and Metamorphosis: Becoming a PhD Chapter 4 Mentoring and Mothering in Academe: Remaining True to Your Life Goals Chapter 5 Mentoring and Mastery: Getting to Tenure Chapter 6 Mentoring and Moving On: Leaving the Ivory Tower

About the Author :
Elena Klaw, PhD, is Associate Professor of Psychology and the Director of the Center for Community Learning & Leadership at San José State University in San José, California. She holds a PhD in Clinical and Community Psychology and served as an Affiliate Scholar with Stanford University's Institute for Research on Women and Gender. Dr. Klaw has published in the areas of mentoring, mutual-help, and violence against women. She speaks widely as an activist, researcher and lecturer dedicated to social equity.

Review :
This book is an important contribution to the field of graduate mentoring that every faculty and graduate student should read. Through a careful analysis of a rich and diverse collection of personal narratives by graduate students and junior faculty members, Dr. Klaw provides with great insight, empathy, and clarity a road map to guide one through the perilous terrain of academia and how to address the many pitfalls along the way. Advice is best given by those who have walked the walk. In her wonderful, succinct guide to graduate work, writing the dissertation, and pursuing entry to academia, Dr. Elena Klaw takes it a step further. Mentoring and Making It provides guidance on this sometimes difficult, always stressful, process that is both warm and friendly as well as backed up by a thorough literature review and her own research into what was helpful (or not so helpful) for others who managed to succeed. I am excited to have this well-researched guide book to help demystify the challenge of academia for my students who are going on for graduate studies! As someone who trains undergraduate and master's level graduate students planning to pursue doctorate education, I have long been waiting for a book like this. Professor Klaw's book Mentoring and Making it in Academe addresses what I consider to be the most fundamental element to the successful completion of doctorate training but is very elusive to many students entering graduate programs. Her book has the potential to make a powerful impact on these students' endeavor to obtain a PhD. This book will definitely be a required reading for all of my undergraduate and graduate students. Elena Klaw has produced a book young academics have needed for a long time. It speaks persuasively to the need for better mentoring as a core element of academic duty, providing useful guidance, not only from the author's own deep experience but also through statements from a host of real-world interviewees. It will make us rethink our personal and institutional obligations.