Mentor Program
Posted by Joseph Phillips, Jr. on Monday, October 1, 2012 at 11:55 AM PDT
On Friday, September 28th we kicked off the 23rd year of our Mentor Program with the Albers Mentor Fair. Over 300 students, mentors, faculty, and staff gathered in PACCAR Atrium to start us off. PACCAR also happens to be this year's sponsor of the Mentor Program!
The Mentor Program allows students to benefit from the insights and wisdom of professionals from the Seattle business community. Students participating in the program often report it is one of the highlights of their time at Albers. Groups of 2 to 3 students are paired with a mentor, who works with them throughout the academic year. Students often stay in touch with their mentor long after the year is over.
The Mentor Program is available to graduate students as well as undergraduate seniors. Accounting mentors are available to accounting majors who are juniors. This year we expect over 160 mentors to be working with 250 to 300 students.
Since the program began in 1990, we estimate that over 4100 students have benefited from the advice and council of over 1000 mentors. That is quite a legacy! We have one mentor who has participated every year of the program - Jesse Tam. Another, Willie Aikens, started in 1990 and has been a mentor in every year of the program but one. We are very grateful for their long standing support of the program!
The Mentor Fair is a very high energy event. It is a bit like speed dating. Mentors are scattered throughout the classrooms in the Pigott Building. Students scan the list of mentors and then go interview mentors in order to help form their preferences. Students submit their list of preferred mentors and staff attempt to match students and mentors.
Our staff members do a terrific job of organizing this event and the entire program. As one mentor told me on Friday night, "They have this on complete lockdown!" Hats off to Mary Lou Moffat, Megan Spaulding, Hannah Garcia, and Paula Boos Fitzgerald for their excellent work on the program!
For more information on the Mentor Program, go to: https://www.seattleu.edu/business/centers-and-programs/mentor-program/.