College-Wide First Year and Career Mentorship Programs

Ronald Harichandran; Nadiye Erdil; Stephanie Gillespie

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 2: Peer Mentoring/Learning, Teaching Assistants, and Career Mentorship
Page Count: 14
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41342
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41342
Download Count: 471

Paper Authors

biography

Ronald Harichandran University of New Haven

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Ron Harichandran has served as the Dean of the Tagliatela College of Engineering at the University of New Haven since August 2011. During his tenure as dean he has let curricular and programmatic innovations to develop technical communication skills and an entrepreneurial mindset in all engineering and computer science undergraduate students. He also leads the First-Year and Career Mentorship programs in the college.

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Nadiye Erdil University of New Haven

biography

Stephanie Gillespie University of New Haven

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Stephanie Gillespie is the Associate Dean of the Tagliatela College of Engineering at the University of
New Haven. She previously specialized in service learning while teaching at the Arizona State University
in the Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) program. Her current teaching and research
interests are in developing study skills and identity in first-year engineering students and improving retention rates. She acts as a faculty liaison for the University of New Haven Makerspace and facilitates
student and faculty training. She received her Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the
Georgia Institute of Technology, and her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Miami.

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Abstract

Mentoring can contribute positively to success in college and in careers. Some colleges of engineering have offered either formal or informal mentorship programs and these have generally resulted in positive outcomes with respect to retention [1]. The College of Engineering at the University of ___ began two formal mentorship programs in partnership with a for-profit company named ___. The First-Year Mentorship Program is designed for students entering the university and the Career Mentorship Program is designed for juniors and seniors. A web-based platform was used to facilitate the mentorship programs.

Sophomores in the College of Engineering were recruited to serve as mentors in the first-year program and entering students were encouraged to participate as mentees. Both the mentors and mentees completed profiles that were used to match mentees to mentors. Many mentors agreed to mentor more than one student. Women, underrepresented minority and first-generation college bound students participated in the program in higher proportions than the overall student pool. Once paired, mentees were able to communicate to mentors via text messages, email, phone and videoconferencing. Text messages were routed through a relay that allowed for tracking exchanges and masked the phone numbers of the mentors and mentees. When mentors detected particular areas of concern, they were able to “raise flags” that were logged onto the platform. These flags were monitored by the college and appropriate actions were taken in a discreet manner without violating confidentiality protocols. First-year students typically communicated with their mentors about academic matters, school life, activities and challenges they were facing. Women and underrepresented minority students had significantly higher levels of engagement in the program compared to male students.

Alumni and professionals were recruited to serve as mentors in the career program and juniors and seniors in the college were encouraged to participate as mentees. The features of the program were the same as with the first-year program. However, in the career program students typically communicated with their mentors about internships and jobs, their resumes, interviewing skills, the professional work environment, and challenges they were facing.

The platform used to facilitate the mentorship programs provided considerable data that was used to ascertain the success of the programs. In specific, the data showed that the first-year program resulted in a first to second year retention rate of 75% as opposed to 68% for students who did not participate in the program. For female and underrepresented minority students the increase in retention rate for those who participated in the program was even stronger (80% and 81%, respectively) compared to those who did not participate (65% and 50%, respectively). The relationship between the level of engagement in the program and retention was also analyzed. Student participants in both programs were also surveyed to determine their satisfaction with the mentorship programs, as well as their sense of belonging and different types of self-efficacy.

References

1. Budny, D., Paul, C. A., and Newborg, B. B. (2010). “Impact of peer mentoring on freshmen engineering students.” Journal of STEM Education, 11(5-6).

Citation
Format

Harichandran, R., & Erdil, N., & Gillespie, S. (2022, August), College-Wide First Year and Career Mentorship Programs Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41342

TY - CPAPER
AB - Mentoring can contribute positively to success in college and in careers. Some colleges of engineering have offered either formal or informal mentorship programs and these have generally resulted in positive outcomes with respect to retention [1]. The College of Engineering at the University of ___ began two formal mentorship programs in partnership with a for-profit company named ___. The First-Year Mentorship Program is designed for students entering the university and the Career Mentorship Program is designed for juniors and seniors. A web-based platform was used to facilitate the mentorship programs.

Sophomores in the College of Engineering were recruited to serve as mentors in the first-year program and entering students were encouraged to participate as mentees. Both the mentors and mentees completed profiles that were used to match mentees to mentors. Many mentors agreed to mentor more than one student. Women, underrepresented minority and first-generation college bound students participated in the program in higher proportions than the overall student pool. Once paired, mentees were able to communicate to mentors via text messages, email, phone and videoconferencing. Text messages were routed through a relay that allowed for tracking exchanges and masked the phone numbers of the mentors and mentees. When mentors detected particular areas of concern, they were able to “raise flags” that were logged onto the platform. These flags were monitored by the college and appropriate actions were taken in a discreet manner without violating confidentiality protocols. First-year students typically communicated with their mentors about academic matters, school life, activities and challenges they were facing. Women and underrepresented minority students had significantly higher levels of engagement in the program compared to male students.

Alumni and professionals were recruited to serve as mentors in the career program and juniors and seniors in the college were encouraged to participate as mentees. The features of the program were the same as with the first-year program. However, in the career program students typically communicated with their mentors about internships and jobs, their resumes, interviewing skills, the professional work environment, and challenges they were facing.

The platform used to facilitate the mentorship programs provided considerable data that was used to ascertain the success of the programs. In specific, the data showed that the first-year program resulted in a first to second year retention rate of 75% as opposed to 68% for students who did not participate in the program. For female and underrepresented minority students the increase in retention rate for those who participated in the program was even stronger (80% and 81%, respectively) compared to those who did not participate (65% and 50%, respectively). The relationship between the level of engagement in the program and retention was also analyzed. Student participants in both programs were also surveyed to determine their satisfaction with the mentorship programs, as well as their sense of belonging and different types of self-efficacy.

References

1. Budny, D., Paul, C. A., and Newborg, B. B. (2010). “Impact of peer mentoring on freshmen engineering students.” Journal of STEM Education, 11(5-6).

AU - Ronald Harichandran
AU - Nadiye Erdil
AU - Stephanie Gillespie
CY - Minneapolis, MN
DA - 2022/08/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - College-Wide First Year and Career Mentorship Programs
UR - https://peer.asee.org/41342
DO - 10.18260/1-2--41342
ER -