Mentoring is a hot topic now in higher education, perhaps because of discontent with other models of the instructor's role. As Diane M. Enerson writes in the first chapter of this book, "Mentoring as Metaphor," "the metaphors we have used to describe what we do when we teach have not always been ones that cast much light on the learner"--she mentions sage, actor, and pedagogue--and she quotes the dismissive idea of classroom teaching provided by Jane Tompkins's description of the performance model: "putting on a performance whose true goal was not to help the students learn but to perform before them in such a way that they would have a good opinion of me."

If that is teaching--and who can deny its kernel of truth?--then by all means let us have mentoring.
Reinarz and White have assembled a useful volume, very much in the reliable model of the New Directions For Teaching and Learning series; it has eleven chapters by divers hands, ranging from quite concrete approaches like "Mentoring for the Health Professions" to entirely grander matters--the last chapter is "The Transformation of Teaching." This last chapter is something of a disappointment--its real topic is the transformation of the environment for teaching and learning, and it rather predictably mentions increased diversity of student bodies, the challenge of technology, and other non-cutting-edge features of the twenty-first-century university.

None of the chapters is without interest. Readers will find something applicable in most academic areas. The two most interesting chapters are:

1. "Full Human Presence: A Guidepost to Mentoring Undergraduate Science Students" by Brian P. Coppola (chemistry, University of Michigan). Coppola begins with an overview of successful mentoring--declaring, in a way that many faculty would hesitate to endorse, that "faculty mentors are obliged to help students uncover their dreams and realize their potentials." He goes on to supply further exhortatory advice; concrete suggestions for "guiding undergraduate student development" and "listening to the student voice" in natural science; and some interesting assessment results derived from listening to student voices. There is discussion of one-on-one mentoring via the web and the role of student groups. And he concludes with advice drawn from the Hippocratic oath:

"First, do no harm" is not a prescript of inaction. It is a glaring reminder that our students have come to us for our care: for us to provide them with a rich environment in which they can improve themselves. . . . If we, by our words and actions, do not know how to provide the kinds of interventions that permit the majority of students to improve themselves, including every member of the next generation of faculty, then we may be guilty of negligence at best . . . and more often of actual harm.

2. "Teaching Key Competencies in Liberal Arts Education" by Edie N. Goldenberg (political science, University of Michigan). Though less well provided with concrete detail than Coppola's chapter, this one includes fruitful discussions of the purposes of a liberal education, persuasively linked to the case for an expanded idea of teaching, and a reminder of what the literature on student learning amply shows:

The evidence is compelling that students learn more when they are engaged and involved, they learn more when they cooperate with each other, and the quality of teaching affects what students learn . . . The time is ripe to pay more attention to the evidence we have on student learning--to design courses that actively involve students in their learning and to design cooperative learning experiences.

Goldenberg goes on to praise such promising developments as the involvement of senior faculty in first- and second-year seminars, cooperative undergraduate research experiences and the incorporation of extracurricular activities that reinforce classroom learning.

One final reflection: it is pleasing to note that the contributors represent, not the small private college where--even if only according to unconfirmed legend--mentoring has always existed, but large Research I universities: with one exception the authors work at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Penn State University.

Merritt Moseley
UNC Asheville