Thank you for your interests in supporting our students by becoming involved with the School of Engineering’s mentorship program.
Why Mentors Are So Important
Our mentors play an extremely crucial role in our students’ success stories. Many times, a student’s mentor is their first connections they have with an industry professional. As a mentor, you have unique insight and access that can help connect students with their first internship, college/summer job, or even first career level position. Your involvement can help deepen and refine a student’s understanding of their aspirational career field and to further explore more into areas that were previously unknown. The main role our mentors play, is helping students define and work towards educational and professional goals that will position them to be successful while in school and after graduation. Finally, your support as a mentor is more important now than ever, as a larger number of studies are suggesting that students who have an involved and engaged mentor are persisting and working harder towards their academic goals. This translates to higher rates of completion (graduation), satisfaction with academic experiences, and a greater sense of purpose.
General Information
At the start of the fall and spring semesters, we will host a dinner that allows you and your student(s) a chance to meet and define goals for the upcoming semester. Mentors and their student(s) meet between 2-5 times each semester, but that will be totally up to you and your student(s). To ensure accountability and respect for your time, we use an outline to provide structure to the mentor/mentee relationship. This outline will assist you to help the student define measurable goals, mutual expectations, and a timeline of actions that will help the student reach his/her goal(s).
Next Steps and Getting Involved
If you think you would like to be a mentor, we invite you to complete our mentor interest form that gathers some professional and general biographical information. This information allows us to match you with a student (or students) who would benefit the most from your own unique professional experiences and expertise.