Mission Statement
The Graduate Center for Inclusive Mentoring’s mission is to improve the mentoring culture at CSU to ultimately elevate the educational and training success of CSU graduate students and post-doctorates. GCIM is committed to providing a supportive environment in which faculty, post-doctorates and graduate students share and learn excellent mentoring skills, enabling them to be successful mentees as well as mentors.
Building a Thriving Culture of Mentoring Excellence
An important objective of GCIM is to equip mentors with the expertise and resources needed to help mentees meet their goals and expectations. This includes finding success and gratification in their chosen profession, developing excellent communication skills, and setting reasonable goals on a personal and professional level, to name a few. As such, mentors should exhibit the personal attributes that will demonstrate to the mentees how to be productive, successful, and confident in their chosen field. Some of the characteristics of a good mentor should include:
- a willingness to share knowledge and skills necessary to succeed
- maintaining a constructive attitude with mentees and a willingness to listen before providing advice
- being open and honest with the mentees
- being supportive and accessible in times of need
Furthermore, mentors should be culturally responsive and mentor through a lens of equity and inclusion to best support the success of graduate student and post-doctorate mentees, including those groups that have been traditionally under-served.
GCIM is pleased to provide:
- Mentor and mentee trainings to faculty, staff, graduate students, and post-doctorates
- Socialization activities developed to encourage professional networks
- Recruitment and retention activities and programs with an emphasis on graduate students from under-served populations
- Activities and programs that prepare students as strong candidates for graduate school
- Consultative services to departments and colleges regarding graduate recruitment, retention, and professional development activities
- Access to GCIM Faculty and CIMER trained faculty
CIMER Faculty
Meet Our Faculty
Mentoring Resources
The Graduate School commissioned task forces in 2016, one led by students and one by faculty, to develop white papers on mentoring. Links to the pdf documents are provided below:
Signature Events
- Mentor Mondays – a series discussing effective mentoring relationships and their critical role in the graduate community. Sessions are on Sept. 9, Oct. 7, Nov. 4 and Dec. 2 from Noon to 1:00 p.m. in LSC 372-374. Please register at col.st/Iikvd
- Save the date for Changing the Graduate School Culture; The Role of Mentoring presented by Dr. Robbin Chapman on November 1. Time and location TBA.
Spotlight Scholarships and Professional Development Opportunities for Students
- The American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE), Inc. is accepting applictions for the AAHHE Graduate STudent Fellows Program (GSFP) for the 2020 AAHHE National Conference. Applications are due September 20, 2019. Download the flyer (PDF) for more information.
- The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) provides fellowships to graduate students in STEM fields. Fellows receive 3 years of a $34,000 stipend, as well as opportunities to do research abroad or intern for a government agency. Download the flyer (PDF) for eligibility information. Please email Alissa.Williams@colostate.edu with questions.
Financial Aid Resources
View the financial aid resources page for information on scholarships, assistantships, and fellowships.
Graduate Student Satisfaction Survey
The Graduate School is committed to the success of all students. To this end, the Graduate School surveys graduate students every two to three years to assess student satisfaction related to campus climate, professional development, and mentoring support. The results of our latest survey are here.
Principles of Community
The Principles of Community support the Colorado State University mission and vision of access, research, teaching, service and engagement. A collaborative and vibrant community is a foundation for learning, critical inquiry, and discovery. Therefore, each member of the CSU community has a responsibility to uphold these principles when engaging with one another and acting on behalf of the University.
We create and nurture inclusive environments and welcome, value and affirm all members of our community, including their various identities, skills, ideas, talents and contributions.
We are accountable for our actions and will act ethically and honestly in all our interactions.
We honor the inherent dignity of all people within an environment where we are committed to freedom of expression, critical discourse, and the advancement of knowledge.
We are responsible, individually and collectively, to give of our time, talents, and resources to promote the well-being of each other and the development of our local, regional, and global communities.
We have the right to be treated and the responsibility to treat others with fairness and equity, the duty to challenge prejudice, and to uphold the laws, policies and procedures that promote justice in all respects.
Graduate Ram Impact
Fionna Samuels
Department of Chemistry doctoral student Fionna Samuels has been named a 2019 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellow, a prestigious honor that recognizes outstanding students pursuing research-based graduate degrees.
This fellowship includes three years of financial support with a $34,000 annual stipend and $12,000 cost-of-education allowance (paid to the institution). The national competition drew 12,000 applicants from the United States, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. Of the applicants, only 17 percent were named NSF Graduate Research Fellows.
Robert Higgins
Colorado State University chemistry graduate student Robert Higgins was recently named a NatureNet Science Fellow. This program selects promising early career scientists focused on helping to solve the world’s unprecedented challenges with climate change for two years of fellowship support. The NatureNet Science Fellows Program partners with universities around the country to discover and implement new interdisciplinary science while working toward the advancement of new conservation efforts.
Jixiang Fang
It’s not unusual for students to change their major during college. Jixiang Fang not only changed his major, he also changed his college, and his career, and his continent. Fang graduated from a small college in Hainan, in southeast China, with a bachelor’s degree in hotel management. He was working in the hotel industry in China when he decided he wanted to learn more about finance; he wanted to study in the United States, so he began his search.