Created in the Fall of 2018, the goal of the PSGSA Mentorship Program is to provide each incoming first-year student with two current-student mentors, aiming to nurture a collegial departmental culture for graduate students. The mentors will be resources for first-year students, offering assistance in selecting courses, strategies for preparing and approaching their class and work responsibilities, as well as general advice and support throughout their first year in the program. The PSGSA assigns two mentors to each student while ensuring that: (i) the mentors are at different stages in the program; (ii) at least one mentor shares the same subfield as the mentee; (iii) at least one mentor matches the same gender of the mentee.
The expectations for the mentors are as follows:
- The mentor commits to mentoring one (or more) incoming first-year student(s) for the academic year;
- The mentor commits to meeting with his or her mentee(s) once within the first two weeks of class this Fall;
- The mentor commits to meeting with his or her mentee(s) a second time during the Fall semester, and once more during the Spring semester;
- In total, the mentor commits to meeting with his or her mentee(s) a minimum of three times during the academic year (within the first two weeks of class; once more in the Fall; and once in the Spring).