by Kate Hopper

Family is important. So are friends and peers. For graduate students, however, one of the most important relationships may be with their adviser. And as with any relationship—especially one in which so much is at stake—there can be conflict and emotional pitfalls.

At the College of Education and Human Development, a graduate adviser often launches a graduate student’s career. Besides guiding their students’ research, advisers help secure joint publications, presentations, and grants—invaluable additions to a curriculum vitae. They also provide contacts with other professionals and researchers in the field.

“This relationship sets the tone for the whole program and affects how you’re feeling about your place within the department,” says Kate McCleary, a second-year doctoral candidate in the Department of Educational Psychology’s comparative and international development education program. “Having the support of your adviser as you move forward with your research and dissertation is invaluable.”

But the graduate student/adviser relationship is a complex one. A successful relationship depends on finding a good fit, explains educational policy and administration associate professor Melissa Anderson, director of the Postsecondary Education Research Institute, who has spent the past 20 years studying graduate education and research integrity. “An adviser and advisee need to have intellectual interests in the same areas and a compatible take on their subject matter,” says Anderson. “Since it’s a professional, collaborative relationship, they really need to work well together.”

The collaborative nature of the research and publishing process, not to mention status differences between faculty and student, can lead to some sticky situations. If graduate students feel they aren’t getting enough credit for their work, for example, resentments can develop. “This is a real issue,” says Anderson. “But the way to avoid ethical problems is by discussing and agreeing on authorship at the first meeting.”

Professor Richard Weinberg, who has been advising students in the Institute of Child Development for 37 years, agrees. “You have to set strict guidelines before work on a project begins,” he explains. “A person’s role in the project will determine how credit is given. If a student is paid to gather data, she or he might only be mentioned in a footnote, but if a student has really collaborated on the research and writing, she or he will be given authorship credit. This needs to be clear from the beginning because problems arise when there is no clarity about this.”

Weinberg, who has been honored with the University of Minnesota Award for Outstanding Contributions to Postbaccalaureate, Graduate, and Professional Education, takes his role as an adviser seriously. “The key is the word ‘relationship.’ Being an adviser is not just about signing papers,” he says, “It’s a long-term relationship, and you need to put time into getting to know your advisees. First-year graduate students are often nervous. You must remember that you were in their position once, and do what you can to acculturate them.”

The University honored Joan Garfield, professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, with the same award, so it’s no surprise that she expresses the same commitment to her graduate students. “It’s so important to get a sense of your advisees as people, and understand the constraints of their lives,” she says. “I strive to be welcoming and accessible and really try to get to know them.”

The graduate student also must take responsibility for maintaining a healthy relationship by meeting deadlines and making time for meetings. “Students need to make as big an effort as their advisers,” says Joel Donna, a third-year doctoral candidate in science education. “But if you’ve tried, and the relationship still isn’t working, you need to find someone else with whom to work. You need to find a good match.” Donna says he can always pick up the phone to call his adviser with a question.

Though the process of changing advisers might seem a bit awkward, Anderson encourages students to seek out a better relationship, when needed. “Most students are overly concerned about switching advisers, but initial adviser-advisee appointments are made only on the basis of a hunch about compatibility. As students become familiar with lines of research and the faculty, they will quite naturally find out who is likely to be the best adviser for their work. Professors understand this dynamic and support changes of advisers.”

So how does one avoid some of these pitfalls and create a healthy adviser/advisee relationship?

“Open communication,” says McCleary. “You need to be honest and upfront with your adviser, and if you need something, you have to ask for it. You can’t expect your adviser to know what you need.” When it works, the adviser/advisee relationship can be mutually beneficial and satisfying. “The relationship evolves from a mentoring relationship to a collegial one,” says Weinberg. “I’m still in contact with many of my former advisees. Some are now professors and advisers to their own students. It really is a generative relationship, and that’s so rewarding.”