Call for Mentees: Researcher Development Program (RDP)

2025-26 Cohort

The UCEA Graduate Student Council (GSC), in conjunction with the AERA Leadership for School Improvement Special Interest Group (LSI SIG), is seeking mentees for the Researcher Development Program (RDP) 2025-26 cohort. The Researcher Development Program is an initiative aimed at providing graduate students with research-focused mentorship and networking opportunities with faculty members outside their institution.

Purpose:

The Researcher Development Program is committed to matching faculty mentors and graduate students with similar research interests to facilitate the development of ongoing collaborative research projects and networks of support. Graduate students will benefit from the expertise of their faculty mentor and receive feedback throughout the course of project development. Mentors will benefit from collaboration with emerging scholars who share their research interests. The program is unique in its focus on establishing ongoing mentor-mentee relationships through the development of a research product which could include, but is not limited to, conference proposals or presentations, posters, policy briefs, and papers.

Program Overview:

The RDP aims to support the development of research projects for graduate students at various stages of their master’s or doctoral programs. While mentors may offer additional support for students’ dissertation work, the program is designed to foster work on a collaborative project that is distinct from the dissertation. Thus, mentees need to be able to commit time to collaboration on a research project outside of their coursework or dissertation. Because graduate students enter the program with a range of research skills and methodological expertise, as well as different academic and professional development needs, mentors and mentees have flexibility in specifying whether they are prepared to lead a project or assist with a project. Mentors may specify existing projects that mentees can assist on, co-develop a project with mentees, or collaborate on a student-led project. Moreover, the RDP provides three mentoring structure options to better meet the working styles and needs of mentors and mentees: a one-on-one mentoring partnership, mentoring group with one mentor and multiple mentees, or mentoring group composed of multiple mentors and mentees. While the majority of mentors and mentees are affiliated with academic programs broadly related to Educational Leadership and Policy, the RDP is open to both graduate students and faculty members who are seeking to expand their theoretical or methodological expertise, or engage in cross-disciplinary work. 

Timeline:

Mentors and mentees will communicate regularly throughout research project development, which will culminate in the presentation of a research product at the 2026 UCEA Annual Convention. The following is a general timeline of program events:

October 12, 2025:                    Release of Call for Mentees

November 1, 2025:                  Mentee Sign-up Forms due (see link below)

Mid November, 2025:             Announcement of assigned mentors/mentees

November 20, 2025:               Meet-and-greet during RDP Symposium at the 2025 UCEA Annual Convention December 4, 2025:                  Cohort Kickoff (virtual)

Jan 2026 - Oct 2026:               Project development

Mentee Responsibilities:

Mentees will be expected to work with their mentors on a yearlong project.  During the project development period, mentees are expected to:

• Clearly discuss mentor-mentee goals, needs, and expectations for mentoring and collaborative work
• Contribute to the development of a collaborative research project (distinct from coursework or dissertation) based on mutually agreed on mentoring structures, goals, needs, and expectations
• Make intellectual contributions to the project that strengthen its scholarly contribution
• Mutually establish timelines, roles, and expectations for completion of the project
• Seek out the guidance of their mentors as they develop their research product
• Provide timely updates and drafts to their mentors for feedback
• Reply to mentor communications in a timely manner
• Provide periodic information and program feedback to the RDP planning committee
• Co-present a research product with mentors (potentially at the 2026 UCEA Annual Convention)

We encourage prospective mentees to consider the time commitment involved in project development (outside of your coursework or dissertation) as you specify the nature of the research projects you can collaborate on, and the mentoring structures that are best suited to your development needs and availability. Some mentors enter the program with existing or new projects in mind, while others are open to assisting with a mentee-led project, so we encourage mentees to be open to a range of possible projects. When you sign up, you will have the option of specifying what project approaches would be best suited to your research experience and development goals. Participation in the program also involves attendance at the UCEA Annual Convention. While the RDP cannot provide travel funding, we will provide a letter of support that you can use when requesting funding from your university sources.

Questions? Contact the RDP Planning Committee:

researcherdevelopmentprogram@gmail.com

How to Participate:

To sign up as a mentee, please complete this questionnaire using the link provided by Saturday, November 1, 2025