Program Expectations

Assessment

We want to check in regularly to make sure the program is serving you well. Expect 3–4 surveys each semester throughout this program. Please make sure to give these surveys some thought and complete them as soon as you can. We need this information for:

  • Reports on our grant-funded program to the College of Art & Sciences
  • Improvements throughout the program to ensure you feel supported and empowered
  • Program growth and expansion, including serving other groups and requesting future funding

Mentorship Agreements

Each mentorship cluster will be made up of 2–3 faculty members and 2–3 students. We ask that each cluster complete one cluster mentorship agreements. We will provide a template to guide you through this negotiation process to establish group norms and expectations as well goals and boundaries.

If you would like to meet one-on-one with a member of the program (you need not be in the same cluster), we ask that you compete an individual mentorship agreements. You are welcome to use the template we created for this as well. Note that this template focuses more on personal (rather than community) goals.

Monthly Meetings (at least)

We don't want to police how frequently you meet but do try to stick to regular meetings that occur at least several times throughout the semester. These meetings may occur in any format (virtual, in-person, hybrid) at any time of day (need not be during business hours); you should discuss meeting context and frequency with your cluster while completing the mentorship agreement.

Your cluster meetings are in addition to optional (but highly encouraged) attendance at our social events and invited speaker presentations. We expect to organize 3–4 additional events for you all each semester.

To help get your conversations started, we have put together worksheets that explore a case study, topic, or observation related to the nuance of identity in academic professional spaces. You do not have to submit any deliverables regarding these worksheets and you are not required to adhere strictly to the worksheet guidelines. Our intention is to help you all overcome the barrier of starting conversation and quickly dive deep into discussions of academia. We ask that students come up with discussion topics that they compile into worksheets to share with other clusters. In this way, student needs are amplified to faculty who can pass them up the institutional hierarchy.