Mentoring At the USDA/ARS

One of the advantages of working in our U.S. federal service is the emphasis that our department, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and our agency, the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), places on diversity and outreach for recruitment and retention of employees. Our workplace is undergoing a large cultural transformation to foster professional growth and encourage quality service to clients. Though we as ARS scientists have no performance requirement for teaching, we do have an opportunity to work with youth groups from grade school through undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral scientists. During the past 30 years, the scientific staff (4 scientists) at the Corvallis NCGR has mentored more than 350 students, interns, volunteers, and aides—about 12 each year. Many of our students have since become full-time employees in our agency, other federal agencies, academia, or the horticultural industry. Our supervisors have managed students with a full range of capabilities, including those with challenging physical and mental situations (such as blindness or being confined to a wheelchair),  those with scholarly advanced placement, and those in between. We have worked with 1890s colleges in capacity building grant research projects. We have worked with local native people's tribes and associations in mentoring and training students. We have worked with private and state vocational rehabilitation organizations to bring challenged individuals into the workplace. While scientific interest and accomplishment is our binding force, mentorship is a key element to our success. Our primary principal is to be open and to share. Each of us is progressing along the road to understanding. We remember the mentors who have ushered us along that route, and share that guidance to those next in line. Our success has come from knowing the minute details of policies and procedures for recruitment and promotion options not only students, but for the permanent staff members; and from knowing and implementing appropriate performance evaluation procedures, recognition, and award systems. As mentors, our scientists respect their interns, provide them with opportunities to demonstrate the quality of their work, and allow them to share in successes and failures. Nanos gigantium humeris insidentes. We all stand on the shoulders of giants and through mentorship have the responsibility to foster those who follow.