Academic advisement models in higher education have traditionally focused on the needs of the undergraduate student population. The purpose of this paper is to provide a model for graduate student advisement clarifying the role of the graduate student advisor within a developmental context that meets the needs of adult students. The Mentoring-Empowered Model for Graduate Student Advisement, based upon the psychosocial needs of adult learners is presented. The model addresses graduate students in the context of communication that focuses upon psychological and developmental needs inherent in adult graduate students. It is based on concepts of graduate student advisement, the knowledge base on mentoring in education, and Erikson's stages of human development. The model provides graduate advisors with six characteristics essential to a developmental context for graduate student advisement (communication, trust, openness, acceptance, growth, nurture) and five behavior-specific role functions (sponsor and socializer, teacher, counselor, encourager, and role model). Implementation examples designed to facilitate communication between advisors and advisees are provided. A chart depicting the Mentoring-Empowered Model is appended. (Contains 14 references.) (Author/LL)