Outside Mentor Appreciation Thread
Per a request on the Alerts page, the following idea for a thread was stolen from the IR rumor mill. Positive discussion only.
Which professor outside of your department, not on your Ph.D. committee, not a former mentor at the undergraduate level has been most helpful in your research? How?
posted by American and Comparative Politics Job Blog at 6/15/2008 10:13:00 AM
63 Comments:
All Hail to the best mentor ever, Barbara Geddes!!
My experience with Karen Remmer at New Mexico was terrific.
I've found Skip Lupia to be quite helpful.
David Waldner at UVA is a mentoring mensch par excellence.
George Tsebelis is a great mentor
Chuck Shipan is amazing as well!
This thread is ridiculous.
Michael Mintrom, who is an excellent colleague and mentor, even after departing for New Zealand.
David starov - mentor, colleague, American hero
Mark Sawyer, UCLA is very helpful.
Mike Hunt was a warm and welcoming mentor
I hear that guy Swarley is pretty legend-wait for it-ary.
"Worst. Thread. Ever."
The late Linda F. Williams, Maryland. Wonderful person, very helpful, honest.
Paul. Allen. Beck.
Gary Segura!
Mark Graber and Ron Kahn are always willing to spend their time and energy on juniors and actively mentor people who are emphatically not clones of them. Great, great guys, both of them.
Jim Gimpel has been one of the most helpful people I've ever dealt with.
Skip Lupia rocks!!
Ted Jelen
I agree, Skip Lupia is very good!
This thread would gain a lot if people would write why they "hail" the particular person. This could also help more senior colleagues be(come) better supervisors.
Ok (as someone who does not have a Michigan PhD and is not affiliated with Michigan in any way), I've found Skip Lupia to be helpful because after meeting him at a conference he was willing to read a paper and give me excellent feedback in terms of framing my project and selling it. I've also heard him talk up junior scholars who are doing good work but who might not be getting much attention (because their PhD is not from a flashy program, or because they didn't land in a top department). He's able to tell you about their work and why it's interesting. He doesn't *have* to do any of this, but it's great that he does.
Ok, an addendum to 9/29/2007 1:09 PM in response to the request for details:
I met David Waldner when he gave a talk in my department years back. I tried to poke some holes in his paper, based on my ongoing diss. research. His response was to ask to read it, which he did in minute detail (more so than most of my committee) and sent pages of comments several times. He graciously wrote a job letter and has continued to provide incredible feedback on subsequent work, as well as being a generally kind PR rep for me and other young scholars whose work he reads.
Glad to learn all this. I will now send all my grad term papers to Lupia for comments before sending them to the APSR.
Jamie Druckman is about the nicest and most helpful person I've ever met.
I'd second the Druckman nod: Jamie is a top-notch guy. Wicked smart and genuinely nice.
yes, unlike some other "hotshot" young americanists, Jamie is a very nice guy
Jamie is one of the nicest and most helpful people I have encountered - he is definitely appreciated.
Jim Mahoney has been generous with his time, given incisive and encouraging comments, and displayed extraordinary intellectual curiosity. He is a consummate professional.
Ric Uslaner is extremely generous with his time. He has read and critiqued countless papers for me and I am exceptionally grateful.
i'll add to the Jamie Druckman love fest
Jamie Druckman was Skip Lupia's student. I don't know if that means anything but I thought it was worth pointing out.
Don Green was awesome!!! Always found time to meet and discuss, even for students not in American, methods, or running field experiments. Probably the most urbane as well.
When I was a graduate student, and a junior faculty member, senior people (from around the country) were eager to help and guide me. Once I attained tenure, I found it difficult to get senior faculty to read and comment on my work. Has anyone else had this experience?
Time to pay back buddy. Do onto others. You're a big boy/girl now. Help someone else out
Yep, time to pay it forward. You're not a rookie anymore.
It's a shame Jamie will never read this blog :)
Second the nomination of Don Green. (Full disclosure: I'm at Yale, though I don't work with Green and never have.) The man is extraordinarily willing to help you out if you've got a methodological problem. He's a tremendous guy, and even though I'm not on board with his larger "experiments or bust" agenda, he's a mensch in my book.
Steve Smith may be the best. Probably has the record for the longest uninterrupted advising session.
I will third the Don Green nod. I took an Icspr course from him, and he was just awesome. Very helpful.
Why not undergrad advisors? thirty years ago when I was a sophomore at Texas Henry Dietz began going out of his way for me and has continued to do so to this day.
Dick Fenno. Fifty years of helpful service to everyone.
Andy Polsky at CUNY.
John Petrocik helped me a great deal during my time as an undergraduate; he served as my thesis advisor and helped set me on my path to grad school.
This thread is dead. It's just cluttering the place up now.
I was planning to be helpful to someone in the next year or so in hope of getting mentioned here, but if it is to be killed I'll just go back to being dismissive and self absorbed.
Frances Rosenbluth is probably the nicest person you can meet!
OK, let's make this interesting. Let's open it up to stories about how your mentor screwed you.
I've been helped greatly by all three of Lupia, Druckman and Green. They are models of collegiality.
While my colleagues in graduate school were collaborating on research with their mentors (and co-authoring journal articles and book chapters), I spent three semesters copy-editing my mentor's book with a fine-toothed comb.
Steve Chan @ Colorado
D. Sunshine Hillygus is a model of female perfection. What a great mentor that's easy on the eyes.
um...not sure that's what qualifies a person as a mentor (but if it is, Delli Carpini is a great mentor -- and he's a super nice guy)
On "mentor" horror stories: my mentor had me help him move (his house not his office). But I have a friend who wrote a co-authored piece with his "mentor" only to find that his name had been removed when it came out.
My mentor wrote a recommendation letter for a student who applied to my department and claimed s/he was the best student s/he ever worked with, including me. I suspect this happens a lot, but I don't like it! ROAR!!!
Next time tell your "mentor" that you don't want to help them move house and that they should hire someone. Stand up for yourself.
Re: helping your supervisor move.
When he/she takes you out for beers afterwards in thanks, make sure you drink enough that hte cost of beer equals the cost of hiring movers. Guaranteed he/she will never ask you to help move again! (true story)
Stephen Farnsworth, a prof from my undergrad (a small liberal arts school) has been helpful to me through undergrad and grad school. Great guy!
This thread is ridiculous.
I lurve Don Green.
No love for John Aldrich? Come on, people!
Jeremy Weinstein is tops. Brilliant and helpful.
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