Economics DepartmentMentoring relationships with faculty are an important element of the graduate education experience. Mentoring is most important for students conducting research or other independent work. The Computer Science and Economics Departments both have mentoring statements that are somewhat applicable, but these are largely aimed at PhD students. Nonetheless, you should review these statements here for CS, and here for Econ, as much of the commentary is highly appropriate, and will not be repeated here.
Given the limited time (3-4 semesters) of the MSEC program, the deep mentoring relationships that are formed during doctoral study are modified at the master’s level. However, an outstanding feature of the MSEC program relative to most if not all peer programs is that a substantial amount of mentoring exists, as do structures for it.
A mentor works with you to form goals that are right for you and to plan how to achieve them. A mentor also evaluates your work and gives constructive feedback to help you focus your work and be more effective. Your primary mentors are, in approximate order of importance:
- The MSEC Directors of Graduate Study (DGS) in Economics (currently, Charles Becker) and Computer Science (currently, Jeffrey Chase), who serve as your academic advisors;
- Any faculty in Computer Science and Economics for whom you are a research assistant
- Any faculty in Computer Science and Economics for whom you complete a major research assignment in a class that counts as a Capstone Course and that will be included in your portfolio as meeting the capstone requirement.
In addition, the MSEC program has two additional sources of mentoring:
- The MSEC Alumni Mentoring Team, which consists of 10-12 recent alumni both in industry and academe, and who meet periodically to discuss their career trajectories or to be available to offer career advice
- The Economics Master’s Alumni Advisory (MAAB) Board, which plays a similar role, but consists of more senior alumni and is available to all Economics master’s program students.
This document sets out some rules, responsibilities, and expectations for mentoring in the MSEC program. Its purpose is to guide students and faculty toward effective mentoring relationships that are mutually beneficial and free of conflicts. Many mentoring interactions occur in the context of your research efforts, which are formalized in a research milestone assessment for the graduate program, and which involves independent work under the guidance and supervision of the faculty.
Completing the Graduate Program
You may view your graduate program as a sequence of steps or milestones in addition to coursework. In a research milestone you conduct some independent academic work in collaboration with a faculty research advisor and possibly others. You write a paper or program, or organize a research-oriented website, and at oral examination defense you give a presentation about the work and answer questions from your audience. An academic committee of faculty members evaluates the work and certifies successful completion of the milestone. Your advisor guides you in the work, certifies when you are ready to defend the work, suggests other faculty for your committee, and chairs the committee at the defense.
The MSEC program has a single milestone. You are expected to submit a comprehensive portfolio that includes major papers, computer programs, and reports of internships that you completed during your period of study. The portfolio is then reviewed in advance by a faculty committee that meets with you for an oral examination based on your course projects and other research.
The Graduate Program Offices in Economics and Computer Science
The graduate program office (DGS office in Computer Science; EcoTeach in Economics) is here to assist you as you progress through your program. We handle various administrative details for you to manage your funding, receive credit for your work, and complete your degree. The office also manages an administrative process when you enter the program and when you apply to graduate, and also plays a role in courses, exams, internships, fellowships, and other matters. A designated faculty member from each department serves as Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), and works with a staff assistant (DGSA) and Graduate Program Coordinators.
We ask you to help us help you. In particular, we expect you to know your degree requirements, plan ahead, follow our administrative instructions carefully, meet all relevant deadlines, and be responsive to our communications with you on your department email address. In particular, students who get into trouble with meeting a degree requirement often say that they were unaware of what was expected of them, or that their advisor failed to push them to complete it. It is your responsibility to know the requirements for your graduate program and to work with your advisor to meet them.
You should ask the DGS/EcoTeach office for help when you need it. We can answer your questions and address situations that might arise. If you feel that something is not going well or that you are blocked from your goals, then you should talk to us. We will help make a plan to address the issue and connect you with other resources in the University as needed.
Your communications with the DGS/EcoTeach office are confidential, except that we are mandated to request help from a University office for certain equity issues and risks, such as situations involving harassment or a risk of violence.
In particular, you should contact the DGS/EcoTeach office to help you if you feel that you are treated unfairly or unprofessionally, that others are not meeting their responsibilities to you, that expectations set for you are unclear or unreasonable, or that you are encountering a hostile work environment or other unhealthy or unsafe conditions. If you prefer, you may instead contact other offices or resources at Duke for help. For example, you may connect at any time certain Duke University resources for wellness or counseling, or the Office of Institutional Equity, or the Graduate School (TGS), or the Computer Science Department Chair. These offices and others publish web pages and other outreach to help you find them and understand what services and confidentiality they provide.
The Faculty
The Graduate School (TGS) outlines responsibilities of faculty members and students in mentoring roles and in all of their various roles and interactions. That document also summarizes responsibilities of the graduate program and TGS, and a process for appeal of grievances to the Chair and Dean if the DGS is unable to resolve the situation.
To summarize using language from that document, faculty are expected to: respect your interests/goals; assist you in pursuing/achieving them; provide clear expectations on your responsibilities as a student and expectations for the work you undertake with them; evaluate your progress and performance in a timely, regular, and constructive fashion; avoid assigning any duty or activity that is outside your interest or responsibility; be fair, impartial, and professional in all dealings with you; avoid conflicts of interest; and ensure a collegial learning environment of mutual respect and collaboration.
Naturally, you share the faculty's responsibility by taking the lead for your own success, communicating your needs clearly, being appropriately professional, honorable, and respectful in your dealings with others, and doing your part to promote a collegial and respectful learning environment for everyone.
In an academic environment, students and faculty are free to choose how to meet their goals and responsibilities to one another. When you interact with faculty in any of their roles, you must be mindful that they balance their time spent with you against their other responsibilities, goals, and interests. They choose how much of their time to allocate for you. Their choices are based in part on the significance of their responsibilities to you in a specific role. For example, your advisor for a research project may delegate some of their mentoring responsibility to guide your work and monitor your progress to other members of the research group. Committee members may take a more or less active role depending on the nature of the project and milestone.
You in turn are responsible to make efficient use of the faculty time that you request, and to talk to the DGS office (in Computer Science) or EcoTeach office (in Economics) if you feel that you are not getting sufficient attention.