FLIGHT PATHS | Same Student, Different Mentors
How Sharing Advising Offers Better Skill Development for Ohio State Graduate Students
Graduate alumni are using their skills in many lines of work. Career allies can support graduate students as they discern what career path is right for them. “Flight Paths” is series of alumni profiles — produced by GAHDT's Imagined Futures: Graduate Professional Development Initiative — that highlights the key roles mentors play in equipping graduate students to imagine and prepare for a diverse array of meaningful careers. Each story describes a mentorship strategy that alumni found pivotal to their career success.
Authors: Erin Allen (PhD, Music), Larissa Mulder (PhD, Music) and Imagined Futures Director Danielle Fosler-Lussier (Music)
Disciplinary Expertise into Practice
Alumni consistently tell us that having multiple mentors at Ohio State gave them a strategic advantage. Because each mentor possesses unique skills and perspectives, a student with multiple mentors often gains a broader view of the professional landscape. Diverse mentorship broadens the student’s professional network and can equip them with a multifaceted skill set — essential for navigating and thriving in any line of work.
Hope Wilson (PhD’19, Slavic and Eastern European Languages and Cultures) found that her PhD studies at Ohio State equipped her with the disciplinary knowledge and leadership skills necessary for her current work at Duolingo, including written and oral communication and evidence-based curriculum design. Multiple people, both within and outside her department, offered mentorship that advanced her career.
Wilson’s academic advisor, Professor Ludmila Isurin, ensured that Wilson developed disciplinary breadth and understood the “big picture of the field.” Wilson’s studies within her discipline meant that she could talk authoritatively about second-language acquisition — a key skill in her current work. Wilson also benefited from the guidance of Mary-Allen Johnson, the curator of the Hilandar Research Library at Ohio State, a special collection focused on medieval Slavic cultural heritage. While Wilson held a library assistantship there, Johnson encouraged her to think about the specific kinds of tasks that she enjoyed or did not enjoy within that job. This opportunity for introspection helped Wilson identify her interests and envision career paths outside of teaching. The pairing of disciplinary guidance with reflection on work experiences supported Wilson’s transition into her career at Duolingo.
When students see themselves and their work through the eyes of multiple mentors, they can envision more options — even finding opportunities their mentors never dreamed of.
Cultivating Multiple Skill Sets
Crystal Sellers Battle (DMA’09, Vocal Performance) reports that Associate Professor Emeritus Loretta Robinson encouraged her to “take the path less traveled” to pursue her research interest. Sellers Battle developed expertise in gospel music pedagogy at a time when scholarly work on that topic was rare. Another mentor, Professor Emeritus Karen Peeler, helped Sellers Battle envision what the work of equity and inclusion in music could look like.
The partnership of these two mentors during her academic studies ultimately led Sellers Battle to co-found DIEMA (Diversity, Inclusion, Equity in Musical Arts) Consulting Group LLC before securing a job as the Associate Dean of Equity and Inclusion at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, New York. Sellers Battle’s success was supported by mentors who valued her multiple skills and interests: together they helped her chart a path toward a role that combines her music performance, research, and leadership skills.
The Takeaway
Everyone has their own story to tell, and each mentor shares with students the skills, values and advice that come from their own experiences. When students see themselves and their work through the eyes of multiple mentors, they can envision more options — even finding opportunities their mentors never dreamed of. Supported by multiple mentors, graduate students find the guidance they need to pursue fulfilling careers.
