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Graduate Council Document 04-D
(Approved by the Graduate Council 3/25/04)
Guiding Standards for Advising and Mentoring Graduate Students at Purdue University
Graduate Faculty and Students
- The decision to advise a graduate student must be made carefully and thoughtfully. The graduate faculty advisor in all cases acts as the student’s mentor, but in cases where students are pursuing research based masters and/or doctoral degrees, the graduate faculty advisor helps shape the student’s values and understanding of research. Before agreeing to advise a student, the advisor and student should consider their mutual interests; the compatibility of their expectations, work habits, personalities; the career goals of the student and, in the case of a thesis based degree, their research goals.
- Graduate faculty should establish and communicate clear expectations regarding student commitment and effort dedicated to the student’s graduate program.
- Graduate faculty members are responsible for all phases of graduate education and will be accessible to students who are under their guidance.
- Graduate faculty will foster the development of excellence in every graduate student and will be candid, fair, and committed to the welfare and progress of all graduate students.
- Graduate faculty will be objective in the evaluation of research and academic performance and will communicate their evaluations fully and honestly to their students. Graduate faculty will report accurately on the competence of students to other professionals who require such evaluations.
Guiding Research
- When a student pursues a research based graduate degree, the advisor’s responsibility is to guide the student’s first research experience and to understand and constructively critique the student’s research accomplishments.
- Integrity in research is an essential part of Purdue University’s intellectual and social structure, and adherence to its spirit and principles must be maintained. These principles include commitment to truth, objectivity, fairness, honesty, and free inquiry.
- The goal of research and scholarship is the discovery of knowledge.
Expectations
- When engaged in teaching, research, or supervision, graduate faculty will recognize the implicit power and influence they hold and avoid engaging in conduct that exploits or demeans students or that could be construed as an abuse of that power.
- The graduate advisor has the responsibility to discuss career opportunities with the student throughout the student’s graduate program, and often after the student has completed his or her immediate degree objective.
- Graduate faculty must not condone nor tolerate discrimination against any individual on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin or ancestry, marital status, parental status, sexual orientation, disability, or status as a disabled or Vietnam-era veteran.
- Graduate faculty will advise students concerning the ethics of the profession; encourage the practice of scholarship and publication; assist students in addressing ethical issues; and in the case of research based graduate degrees, of ethical and responsible conduct in research.
- Graduate faculty will strive to enhance the educational value of student assignments/experiences as teaching and research assistants.
- Graduate faculty will not permit personal or intellectual differences with colleagues to impede student access to those colleagues or interfere with students’ research or progress toward a degree objective.
Role Models
- Graduate faculty have a responsibility to serve as an exemplar in recognizing and acknowledging the scholarly contributions of others; in providing complete and accurate records and reports of the results and conclusions of their research, scholarly, or artistic endeavors; and in preserving the integrity of the research record.
- Graduate faculty have a special obligation to exemplify the best qualities and highest standards of personal and professional conduct.
Graduate Council Taskforce on Ethics in Graduate Education
November, 2003
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