Mentoring Excellence Program
Effective mentoring is a crucial part of the academic experience. Mentors provide support and connect students to academic and campus resources to aid in the students’ success. The Mentoring Excellence Program (MEP) is a 5-week certificate program intended for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars interested in becoming a mentor or seek to enhance their mentoring skills.
The program cultivates a qualified pool of trained mentors to support students in campus-wide initiatives including Competitive Edge, Graduate InterConnect, DECADE and the Summer Research Program. Trained mentors obtain a skill set sought after in the career marketplace both inside and outside of academia.
What You’ll Learn
In this series participants will:
- Understand strategies and techniques for effective mentoring
- Gain familiarity with relevant campus resources
- Develop a personalized mentoring philosophy and mentoring plan
- Learn about mentoring students from diverse backgrounds
- Learn conflict resolution in mentoring
Who Should Apply
Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars form all disciplines and levels.
*Due to the high volume of applicants, priority is given to students who are training to be peer mentors for Graduate Division’s mentoring programs.
Certificate Requirements
The Mentoring Excellence Program is offered on a quarterly basis. Participants must attend all sessions in their entirety and submit a complete Mentoring Guide to receive a Certificate of Completion.
ATTENDANCE: Participants who miss 1-2 sessions will be asked to “make-up” the missed session(s) in the subsequent quarter. If you miss a big chunk of any session (coming in really late or leaving really early), you will have to make up that session as it will not count as completed.
After completing your missed session(s) you will receive your MEP certificate. Missing more than 3 or more sessions will result in having to re-enroll in the series at a later time and taking all sessions then.
Course Schedule
- 2024 Fall Schedule:
- In-Person Sessions:
- Thursdays from 1:30PM-3PM
- Session dates: October 17, 24, 31, November 7, 14
- Location: In person at the GPSRC (3rd floor of Gateway Study Building)
- In-Person Sessions:
Deadline to submit MEP Interest Form for Fall 2024:
- Tuesday, October 1st at 11:55PM
- Acceptances will be sent by Friday, October 4th
How to Apply
Complete and submit the MEP Interest Form via CampusGroups. The Interest Form will be open until the deadline. You will receive an email determining if you were selected for the program or not.
Graduate students: Login to CampusGroups with your UCI credentials.
Postdoctoral Scholars: If you are new to CampusGroups, please create a “staff” account first.
Schedule
The MEP sessions are listed below. Please note that we switch the order around quarterly depending on the facilitator’s availability. If you’re making up past sessions please check the name of the session you missed as the order might be different from your cohort. If you’re unsure, please check in with Rosie Victor (rvictor@uci.edu) to verify before you make-up your session(s).
| Session Topic Order | Facilitator |
|---|---|
| 1.) Building a Mentoring Relationship Learn about mentoring best practices, mentoring in graduate education, and stages of mentoring from initiation to redefinition. | Kayleigh Anderson-Natale, PhD Director of Postdoc and Professional Development, Graduate Division |
| 2.) Communication & Interpersonal Relationships Learn effective communication strategies and increase confidence when fostering connections with individuals | Bri McWhorter, M.F.A. CEO & Founder of Activate to Captivate |
| 3.) Mentoring Across Differences Learn about diverse student populations at UCI, increase awareness of cultural competency and reflect on the salience of one's intersecting identities. | Aimee Jiang, M.S. Manager of International Student Recruitment and Retention, Graduate Division |
| 4.) Conflict Resolution Identify techniques to address and resolve conflict, assess your conflict style and learn strategies to avoid assumptions about others' interests and motivations. | Kaeleigh Hayakawa, M.S. Assistant Academic Counselor, Graduate Division |
| 5.) Mentoring and Academic Wellness Increase ability to motivate mentees resilience and increase confidence when coaching mentee(s) to balance academics and wellness demands. | Phong Luong, Psy.D. Director of Wellness & Inclusion, Graduate Division |