Entries by Jean Rhodes

A Mouse, A Moment, and the Benefits of Informed Advocacy

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Jean Rhodes I once took a year’s leave from academia to serve as a match coordinator in a Boston-based mentoring program. One evening I found myself sitting on the edge of a couch in a subsidized apartment conducting an intake with nine year old Kayla and her mom. Kayla’s toddler brother played beside me, occasionally […]

Why Spilling Coffee on Yourself Might Make You a Better Mentor Than AI

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Jean Rhodes There has been growing concern about young people’s reliance on chatbots for advice and support, along with a renewed appreciation for the value of human connection. In the end, artificial intelligence can only ever offer simulated empathy, and it cannot self-disclose or show the sort of vulnerability that builds trust. And reliance on […]

An interview with Professor Joe Allen

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The Chronicle is honored to feature Joseph Allen, one of the nation’s leading experts on adolescent development, especially parent and peer relationships. Joe is the Hugh Kelly Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia and a licensed clinical psychologist. His incredible work on The Connection Project was recently cited by U. S. Surgeon General […]

More Than Hallucinations: Five Developmental Processes at Stake in the Age of AI

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By Jean Rhodes Much of the public debate about artificial intelligence in higher education has focused on accuracy. Chatbots hallucinate. They generate plausible-sounding but factually incorrect answers about financial aid deadlines, course requirements, and mental health resources. They encode biases drawn from the data on which they were trained and can produce inconsistent responses to […]

The Mentoring Paradox in the Age of AI mentoring

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by Jean Rhodes In “Older and wiser: Rethinking youth mentoring for the 21st Century” (Rhodes, 2020), I explored why the field of mentoring has remained somewhat decoupled from the more rigorous guidelines of prevention science, and granted broad immunity from the consequences of disappointing findings. Although a full explanation is beyond the scope of this […]

Time to Register for the 2026 Canadian Mentoring Summit

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This landmark event unites mentoring practitioners, researchers, educators, policymakers, post-secondary institutions, private sector leaders, philanthropic investors, and community champions to shape the future of mentoring in Canada. This is an unparalleled opportunity to: Connect with a diverse network of mentoring professionals, practitioners and researchers across diverse sectors. Discover the latest research, promising practices, innovative programs and initiatives. […]

Successful early-career scientists rely on network of mentors

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Successful early-career scientists rely on network of mentors Large networks are particularly beneficial to researchers in under-represented groups. By Mohana Basu (Nature.com) Survey finds that research mentors help junior scientists write publications and grant applications, whereas other types of mentors are helpful for landing a new job.Credit: Thomas Barwick/Getty The most successful early-career researchers often […]

The many mentors of Steve Carell

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  My second-grade teacher was named Mr. Blackman, and he pretty much sent me on my way as an actor. I remember we were doing the Indians and the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. I was a Native American in a canoe, and I was rowing. It was all mime. And I remember rowing and then switching […]

The One Question Every Mentoring Program Should Ask

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By Jean Rhodes When programs evaluate mentoring relationships, they often ask a range of questions about mentors’ listening and support styles, as well as mentees’ perceived trust, understanding, growth, and satisfaction. These dimensions matter. But a single global question can also provide a brief temperature check. Repeated over time, it can alert staff when a […]

The Badge Boom Is Coming to Mentoring: Is that a Good Thing?

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By Jean Rhodes Universities, youth-serving organizations, and training providers are increasingly offering professional development certificates, digital badges, stackable learning experiences, other “microcredentials” for people who mentor, supervise, and support young people. And, a recent report, featuring a survey of 880 mentoring professionals, helps explain why (Garringer et al., 2026). The report describes a highly educated […]