First-year Mentor Program

Campanile
"Campanile" by Nick Vanberkum

Each incoming PhD student of color is invited to participate in our mentoring program. You would choose a more senior PhD student as well as a faculty/staff member as your two mentors.

The goals of program are to:

  • Partner with new students as they transition to graduate school
  • Provide support on issues that are happening in their lives
  • Improve the likelihood of new students flourishing at ISU

For Fall 2011, we have nineteen mentoring groups established. Each mentor participated in a training workshop to discuss the challenges faced by incoming students and ways that mentoring can help. Social events are also key: we kicked off the partnerships with a celebratory welcome event at Dean Ogilvies’ home.