Mentorship Program at the University of Southern Mississippi

Presentation for: Dr. Rodney BennettBy: Maria Gagne3/18/2015

Statement for the Reader

To: Dr. Rodney Bennett

CC:

Subject: Mentorship Program at the University of Mississippi

Dear Dr. Bennett,

It is my honor to present to you today. A presentation on the implementing a proper mentorship program at the University of Southern Mississippi. Included in this presentation is a thorough explanation of the problem, information on what mentorships are, research results gathered from the past few months, and testimonial proof of programs at other universities. As a result of this presentation, I will persuade you to consider investing in a mentorship program to help improve enrollment and benefit the students.

Sincerely,

Maria Gagne

Introduction A college mentorship program is a service intended to give

guidance to upcoming freshmen and transfer students. In order to successfully transition from high school into college.

During a typical mentorship a older student or faculty member would offer help the mentored student with academic, career plans, and personal matters.

There are several colleges that offer a mentorship programs to their students.

Unfortunately, the University of Southern Mississippi is without a proper mentorship program.

MentorshipWhat is mentoring?

A mentoring is when an experienced or professional adult fosters life and career skills in a younger protégé. Through mentoring both the mentor and mentee walk away with benefits that will enhance their growth in life (McLaughlin, 2010).

What is peer mentoring?

The act of peer mentoring is when an older student mentors a younger student as a more relatable resource and guide to transitioning to a college lifestyle. The also act is a support system and resource seeker when a student needs advice or help. Plus, help with studying and getting academically set the first year of college is also a part of peer mentoring (Adams, 2011).

Mentoring Benefits

What are the benefits for mentors? Unique fulfillment of helping guide a

younger person towards achieving their goals and making their dreams a part of their realities.

Building of leadership and professional skills

Opportunity network and connect with professionals and university personnel to achieve own career goals.

Access to all sorts of resources for research and personal interest on campus.

Offers reflection towards own dreams and goals.

Gain experience with communication, counseling, and other useful skills to have in the job market (Colvin & Ashman, 2010).

What are the benefits for mentees?

Development in professional, academic, and person skills.

Access to a wide network of support from peers and faculty.

Ability to network to further future career goals.

Help in academic coursework and study skills

Personal assistance in dealing with issues and sustaining healthy mental states.

Creates interest in creating and setting goals (Colvin & Ashman, 2010).

Current Situation

Lack of a proper mentorship program to help students transition to college and become academically prepared.

The first contact with any program at USM is GEWW crew, but the organization is designed to help guide the new freshmen and transfers through orientation activities only.

After orientation the the students that were guided by these upperclassmen are left to their own devices.

While some students will have not trouble at. There are several students that could find this problematic, because their efforts to get into college were never aided by how to survive college.

Current Situation Cont.

Now some students will have no problem transitioning and academically achieving, but other students will easily become lost, depressed, or start to struggle by their first exam.

If the problem is not handle by the right professionals or mentors

Then the student could easily join the statistic of students that decided to drop out of college (Blanchfield, 1971). (Carleton.edu, 2015)

Methodology When it comes down to addressing the issue of lacking a proper

mentorship program at the University of Southern Mississippi. The means of handling the issue require an extensive amount of research and surveying.

I performed this research using scholarly journals, YouTube videos discussing mentoring and highlighting the mentorship programs at colleges, and analyzing the results of surveys giving to mentored individuals at colleges with programs.

Due to this part of the research I looked for specifically information, background of mentoring, how it works, what the benefits are for both mentor and mentee, why it was important for students to have a supportive figure in their college careers, and the background of mentorship programs at colleges such as the University of Michigan, Portland State University, and so many more.

Methodology cont.The following are the measures I took to perform my research and collect necessary data:

The needs of the community and university were assessed through questionnaires, surveys, and testimonies from USM graduates and upperclassmen undergrads.

Additionally to surveys, research has been performed to find out about mentoring, the benefits of mentoring, the types of mentoring, and the current programs at other universities.

Gather feedback and data from assessment and community outreaching to come up with a viable proposal for a mentorship program. This will be presented to the University President and/or appropriate faculty members that could bring this plan into motion.

Summary of ResultsThe implementing of the mentorship program will require the appropriate funding for the following:

Labor and training programs

Background investigation of mentors

Time and labor needed to match incoming students with the mentors

Normal operation expenses for classroom rentals fees, computer spending, office supplies etc (Beamentor.org, 2015).

Research Survey Results

Ethnicity of Partipants

White African AmericanHispanic Asian

16-19

20-24

25-34

35 to 44

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Chart Title

Ages of Participants

Research Survey Results

Classification of Participants

Freshman SophomoreJunior Senior

Familiarity with the topic of Mentoring

Majority of surveyed participants should high familiarity with the topic of mentorship

Research Survey Results

Answer

  Response %

1 Yes 9 53%

2 No 8 47%

3Not Applicable

0 0%

Total 17 100%

Have been mentored before? Traits for Mentors

Roughly 50% had been mentored, and 47% had not been mentored before. The three traits that participants wanted in a mentor

Were supportive, communicative, and confidence.

Research Survey Results

Interest in Services for Mentees

The top three services participants were interested in receiving from a mentor were advice, support, and career building skills.

Research Survey Results

How likely would you consider being a mentor?

The search for peer mentors is filled with a lot of uncertainty in the majority vote.

Research Survey Results

Should upcoming freshmen have a mentor program? Mentoring for Freshmen/Transfer or All Four Years

When asked if freshman needed a mentor program there was very little objections to the idea.

However, when the option between providing mentoring for just freshmen or all four years of college the majority vote favored all four years of college.

Survey Results Explanation

Advice received 88% of student’s answers on the interests for mentees question. This indicates a direction that the project may shift in, and that should be to provide an advice outlet to students with a correlation of career building and problem solving skills.

56% believed the future freshmen and transfers deserve a mentorship program, but when asked a similar question 71% preferred a mentor program that catered to all four years at this college.

However, a problem in another question was a clear uncertainty if there would be any students that would want to be mentors to other students. This shall create a huge problem since it is crucial to start a mentorship at a college with upperclassmen or graduate peer mentors.

Examples of College Mentorship Programs

Peer Mentoring at Scripps College

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl4Rczsgjb4

Peer Mentors at Centennial College

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkFP88xUwCo

Scripps College Mentorship Program

About the Program Designed to help make the transition to

college easier

Program gets them connected to not only a peer mentor, but staff and faculty as well

Makes class feel less intimating and integrates mentees into the Scripps community.

They are aimed to help with improvement of academic, professional, and personal skills. that make your first year as engaging as possible.

(Scripps College, 2015)

Scripps College Mentorship Program

How it Works The new students are automatically

signed a peer mentoring group/team

The groups include 6 – 8 freshmen with one peer mentored.

Each team has members designated by their residence hall.

The peer mentors undergo special training a week prior to orientation

Training helps prepare the students so they may provide adequate assistance and care to each new student they mentor.

(Scripps College, 2015)

Centennial College Mentorship Program

About the Program Is a program designed to help new

students transition into their new lives at Centennial College

The program comes into diferent options for mentees, which includes individual mentoring from one mentor or group mentoring with other mentees from one or two mentors.

Outside of help with the transition to college the program is designed for connection first year students to an array of academic, career, and other useful services at the college.

(Centennial College, 2015)

Centennial College Mentorship Program

How it Works Matches new students with a senior

level student

The students meet weekly through individual or group mentor session

Plan out schedules of mentees to accommodate appropriate times to handle schoolwork. While allowing for a social life on campus.

Offer up scheduling for study time with the mentors

Inform mentees of events on campus and possible events to attend together.

(Centennial College, 2015)

ConclusionIn this project the research findings were able to illustrate the issue of the lack a proper mentorship program through the following means: The examination of the Freshmen and Transfer experience after orientation The consideration of reasons why students tend to dropout their first year of

college. Background information on what mentoring and peer mentoring are defined as.

Along with the benefits that mentors and mentees can gain from a proper mentor program.

The stats gathered through surveying students highlighted a strong interest in having mentors available to give support, advice career building skills and more.

With the help of the testimonial video examples of on going mentorship programs different colleges. It is clear that a mentor provide a lifetime impact on students to help them excel to their dreams after college.

The main idea to take away from the research on mentorship programs is that the college path is a personal challenge. That needs a support system for the individuals that take it on.

Recommendation For trial aspects of a mentorship a hybrid program is highly

recommended. Hybrid would include on-line and in person components

If not a full blown mentorship program. The university could create student pen pals or accountability partners. They would be roughly the same classification or a few higher, and would provide guidance and support to the student they partner with.

Add an additional program to the First Year Experience where students can talk to professionals, faculty, or upperclassman about their current academic skills, plan goals to be set during the semester or school year, and offer personal advice outside of typical counseling services.

Works Cited Adams, C. (2011). Colleges Try to Unlock Secrets To Prevent Freshman Dropouts. (Cover

story). Education Week, 31(4), 1-17.

Beamentor.org,. (2015). What Does Mentoring Cost?. Retrieved 26 March 2015, from http://www.beamentor.org/TaxDeductible_3.htm

Blanchfield, W. (1971). College Dropout Identification. The Journal Of Experimental Education, 40(2), 1-4. doi:10.1080/00220973.1971.11011309

Carleton.edu,. (2015). The Dropout Dilemma. Retrieved 26 March 2015, from http://www.carleton.edu/departments/educ/Vote/pages/TheDropoutDilemma.html

Colvin, J., & Ashman, M. (2010). Roles, Risks, and Benefits of Peer Mentoring Relationships in Higher Education. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership In Learning, 18(2), 121-134. doi:10.1080/13611261003678879

Centennial College,. (2015). Peer Mentoring. Retrieved 5 May 2015, from http://www.centennialcollege.ca/mycentennial/your-support/here-for-you/peer-mentoring /

McLaughlin, C. (2010). Mentoring: What Is It? How Do We Do It and How Do We Get More Of It?. Health Services Research, 45(3), 871-884. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6773.2010.01090.x

Scripps College,. (2015). First Year and Peer Mentor Programs. Retrieved 5 May 2015, from http://www.scrippscollege.edu/life/first-year-peer-mentor-programs