PhD Program Mentoring

The PhD program in Duke’s Department of Evolutionary Anthropology is built on close mentoring relationships between students and faculty advisors. We believe that transparent, well-structured mentoring is essential to graduate student success—and to the kind of intellectually ambitious, ethical, and inclusive research culture we aspire to build.

This page collects the resources, templates, and expectations that guide mentoring in our PhD program. All incoming students and their advisors are expected to review these materials and complete a mentoring compact during the first year of doctoral study.

Evolutionary anthropology is a broad and integrative discipline. Our faculty and graduate students pursue research that spans labs, museums, and field sites on multiple continents. This diversity of approaches is one of our greatest strengths—and it means that effective mentoring in our program must be thoughtfully tailored to each student’s specific research context and career goals.

At the same time, we share a common set of values: intellectual rigor, mutual respect, open communication, and a commitment to equity and inclusion. The resources on this page are designed to make those values concrete and actionable.

The following documents form the foundation of our mentoring program. All are available for download below.

• Mentoring Expectations Document — Sets out expectations for advisors, dissertation committee members, and graduate students. This is the core policy document for mentoring in our PhD program. 

• Common Expectations for Graduate Student Mentees — A checklist of best practices for PhD students to support productive mentoring relationships.

• Mentoring Compact template — A fillable template for the written agreement between a student and their primary advisor. Students may use other formats / templates as desired. Completed compacts are filed with the Director of Graduate Studies.

• PhD Program Individual Development Plan resources

At the heart of our mentoring program is the mentoring compact: a written agreement developed jointly by each student and their primary advisor. The compact covers:

• Career goals and long-term professional direction
• Mutual expectations (for both the student and the advisor)
• Meeting frequency, communication norms, and feedback timelines
• Expectations during fieldwork
• Authorship and data-sharing norms
• Procedures for addressing problems or disagreements

The compact is completed during the first year of doctoral study and revisited at each major program milestone. Completed compacts are submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies and kept on file. The format is flexible—the goal is a genuine, mutually agreed-upon record of the advising relationship, not a bureaucratic formality.

Each PhD student’s dissertation committee plays an important mentoring role beyond that of the primary advisor. Students are encouraged to think of their committee as a resource available to them throughout the dissertation process—not only at formal meetings.

All PhD students are encouraged to maintain an Individual Development Plan (IDP). The IDP is a structured tool for reflecting on research progress, career goals, and professional development needs. One tool that students might find useful is the myIDP platform (myidp.sciencecareers.org). IDPs should be discussed with your advisor at least annually. For students pursuing careers outside of academic research—including conservation science, science policy, public health, science communication, museum work, and others—the IDP can be particularly valuable for identifying skill-building opportunities and professional networks relevant to your goals.

• Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) — The DGS is available to all students and advisors for questions about program requirements, mentoring concerns, and other issues. Contact information: Herman Pontzer herman.pontzer@duke.edu 
• Duke Graduate School Professional Development — Workshops, fellowships, and resources for PhD students across all career pathways. https://gradschool.duke.edu/professional-development/ 
• Duke Office for Institutional Equity — Resources related to Title IX, harassment, and discrimination. https://oie.duke.edu/ 
• Duke Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) — Mental health resources for graduate students. https://students.duke.edu/wellness/caps/ 
• Duke Graduate School — Field Research Safety Guidelines — Protocols and resources for students conducting international or remote field research. LINK

We are committed to building a PhD program in which every student—regardless of background, identity, or prior experience—has a genuine opportunity to thrive. That commitment is reflected in our mentoring expectations, in the structure of our program, and in the culture we seek to foster as a department.

If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions about the mentoring program, please reach out to the Director of Graduate Studies. This is a living program, and we welcome student and faculty input as we continue to improve it.

This page was developed using materials from the Duke University Biology Department mentoring program (with permission) and the UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Science.