This presentation was designed for a project 3.3 in my English 333 class (technical writing). The project was given to the class with the goal of addressing an issue in the community. The issue I addressed was the lack of a proper mentor-ship program at University of Southern Mississippi.

1. Mentorship Program at the
University of Southern Mississippi
Presentation for:
Dr. Rodney Bennett
By: Maria Gagne
3/18/2015

2. 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

3. 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.

4. Mentorship
What 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).

5. 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).

6. 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.

7. 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)

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. Summary of Results
The 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).

11. Research Survey Results
Ethnicity of Partipants
White African American Hispanic Asian
0 5 10 15
16-19
20-24
25-34
35 to 44
Ages of Participants
Ages of Participants

12. Research Survey Results
Classification of Participants
Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior
Familiarity with the topic of Mentoring
Majority of surveyed participants
should high familiarity with the topic
of mentorship

13. Research Survey Results
Ans
wer
Response %
1 Yes 9 53%
2 No 8 47%
3
Not
Applica
ble
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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. Examples of College Mentorship
Programs
Peer Mentoring at Scripps College
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl
4Rczsgjb4
Peer Mentors at Centennial College
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk
FP88xUwCo

19. 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)

20. 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)

21. 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)

22. 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)

23. Conclusion
In 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.

24. 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.

25. 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