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Mentoring: Making Meaning at PUIs . Kris Monahan, Providence College Pamela Napier, Agnes Scott College Sarah Ryan, St. Norbert College Sally Southwick, Keene State College . What is a mentor? . • Mentor: “Someone whose hindsight becomes your foresight.”
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Mentoring: Making Meaning at PUIs Kris Monahan, Providence College Pamela Napier, Agnes Scott College Sarah Ryan, St. Norbert College Sally Southwick, Keene State College
What is a mentor? • Mentor: “Someone whose hindsight becomes your foresight.” • A mentor is a trusted guide, a colleague and confidante. Someone who can help connect to resources and think about issues and problems from alternative perspectives. • A mentor asks good questions, but doesn’t necessarily hold all the answers him/herself. • It is useful to have a mentor within your institution to help navigate a new culture, but also helpful to have an outside person to help think about things from new and varied perspectives.
- • Why is a mentor important? • Why might you need one?
Where do you find a mentor? • PUI Community facilitates a mentor program • Outside of the PUI mentoring program, mentoring relationship can grow organically through connections made through networking and professional meetings, NCURA Collaborate, etc. • Also regions with mentor programs of varying kinds • Exchange business cards at networking events, sit by someone new at lunch and start a conversation, email someone who contributes to the PUI list
Signs of a good potential mentor: • Individuals who listen to what you have to say before offering advice. Just because someone seems to know a lot of facts doesn’t mean they can help you problem solve within your institutional culture. • Someone willing to think through hypothetical situations and who wants to learn and grow with you. • Approaches mentoring relationships as reciprocal learning opportunities. • Good mentors share experiences, listen and learn with their mentee/protégé. Be careful of all-knowers or one-size-fits-all approaches. (we try to screen those out of the PUI program, of course :)
Personal Experiences • Sarah • Pamela • Others
Survey in June 2012 of first PUI cohort –some major themes and reflections • important for people new to the field or new to PUIs, especially in single-person offices • support, confirmation, affirmation • exposure to new or different models, ways of working, broader perspectives • confidentiality in asking questions and talking about difficult situations • mutual learning • personal connections with colleagues elsewhere
Why mentoring matters for NCURA members • professional development • strengthens and sustains the profession • increased engagement in the organization leads to greater benefits/satisfaction from membership • NCURA has relationships at its heart
Contact us! • Kris Monahan, Providence College, kmonaha6@providence.edu • Pamela Napier, Agnes Scott College, pnapier@agnesscott.edu • Sarah Ryan, Saint Norbert College, sarah.ryan@snc.edu • Sally Southwick, Keene State College, ssouthwick@keene.edu