What is it? Mentoring in Academic Advising is not a new concept. In fact, mentors and academic advisors often share several of the same attributes. They care about their respective individuals and are attempting to promote development as one of their core duties. Mentoring, however, extends beyond academic advising. The focus of this program will be on professional development and developmental connections.
The Region 10 program aims to connect experienced advisors with new advisors to the field by helping new advisors to set professional goals, and incorporating structured monthly activities for mentors and mentees to engage each other and further develop their relationship. Each month, the pairings will receive an email with the topic, and prompts to help kick-start the conversation. The Mentoring Committee is there as support for the mentors and mentees to navigate resources and questions with the program and NACADA.
Benefits
Commitment The commitment is one year of communication with the mentee/mentor you are matched with. The Region 10 Mentorship Committee will help facilitate through email goal setting and monthly topics for mentors and mentees to take on and discuss among themselves at their own pace and in whichever medium they prefer (via email, phone, zoom, etc.).
Our regional program follows a #NoMenteeLeftBehind model, where every mentee applicant is guaranteed a match with a mentor for the year. This may mean a mentor may have more than one mentee. However, our Mentor application allows mentors to express if they only have the time for one mentee match for the year.
Although it is recommended, Region or Annual Conference attendance is not mandatory. Throughout the years of our program, we have found that requiring this is a barrier for our members from receiving a valuable mentorship experience, and therefore it was removed from program requirements.
Timeline