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:

To receive your MEP certificate, you must attend all five sessions in full. Each session is 90 minutes long, and you are expected to stay for the entirety of the session for it to count.

  • In cases of emergency or unavoidable conflicts, we allow a one-time exception where you may attend at least 75 minutes and still receive credit. Any attendance below 75 minutes will result in being marked absent for that session.
  • If you are marked absent for one or two sessions, you must make-up that session in the following quarter. Your certificate will be issued after all required sessions are marked as completed and your mentoring guide is submitted.
  • If you miss three or more sessions, you will need to reapply to MEP in a future quarter and complete all five sessions then. Make-up sessions will not be available in this case.

 

Course Schedule 

This Spring quarter we are offering two different cohorts, one in-person and one virtual. Please look at the dates and times for each to select which one fits your schedule best.

  • 2025 Spring Schedule:
    • In-person Sessions:
      • Tuesdays from 2PM – 3:30PM
      • Session dates: April 15th, 22, 29, May 6, 13
        • *read attendance requirements above*
      • Location: GPSRC
    • Virtual Sessions:
      • Wednesdays from 1:30PM – 3PM
      • Session dates: April 16, 23, 30, May 7, 14
        • *read attendance requirements above*
      • Location: Zoom link will be sent to those accepted into the program
    • Acceptances will be sent the first week of April

How to Apply

Complete and submit the MEP Interest Form via CampusGroups – it will open on Friday, March 7th. 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). You must stay for the entire session for it to count.

Contact

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