Each student who enrolls in the program will be assigned to a faculty member who will serve as an official mentor/advisor. This individual not only performs the necessary advisement activities in order to ensure that a student is meeting the academic requirements for graduation, but also serves as a professional advisor and resource guide. In that sense, faculty mentors help to maximize the self-directed development of graduate students, both in and out of the classroom. The goal of this relationship is to offer students the assistance of a more experienced, professional role model in their efforts to integrate their graduate program, professional goals, and personal life.

Typically, a student can expect a mentor/advisor to provide support, feedback about progress in the program, direct assistance with professional and career development, and role modeling. It is likely that students will seek out and use more than the one professional mentor assigned to them as they progress through graduate school, thereby benefitting from the opportunity to receive many perspectives on the complex issues they may be managing.

It is expected that students and the assigned mentors/advisors would maintain contact with each other on a regular basis throughout the duration of the graduate program.