Mentoring Excellence

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 EdgeGraduate InterConnectDECADE 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 on the waitlist and students 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 are allowed to miss no more than 2 sessions. Missing more than 2 sessions will result in having to re-enroll in the series. Participants will be asked to attend and “make-up” missed sessions in the subsequent quarter. 

Course Schedule 

  • 2024 Winter Schedule:
    • Virtual Sessions:
      • Weekly on Thursday from 1:00 pm – 2:30pm
      • January 25 &  February 1, 8, 15, 22
    • Deadline to submit MEP Interest Form for Winter 2024: January 2nd, 2024
    • Acceptances will be sent early January
 

How to Apply

Complete and submit the MEP Interest Form via CampusGroups. The Interest Form will be open until program capacity is reached.

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. This is the typical sequence, however, we may switch the order depending on the facilitator’s availability. 

Contact

Questions? Email Rosie Victor, Professional Development and Postdoctoral Analyst, at rvictor@uci.edu