In a recent visit to Baltimore, I ate lunch with a group of Johns Hopkins University (JHU) graduate students. Dwight Schwartz (InterVarsity’s Graduate & Faculty Ministry Area Director for the MidAtlantic and Campus Staff Member at JHU) couldn’t wait to introduce me to Lisa, whose labors align so well with the passions and vision of the Emerging Scholars Network (ESN). As a first year graduate student, Lisa organized a  mentoring program in which graduate students serve as mentors for undergraduate students.
What the program is about: To increase the undergraduate-graduate interaction and to give undergraduates a Christian perspective about their future, the graduate Christian fellowship has started a mentoring program for students in the undergraduate Christian fellowship. This mentoring program is conducted almost exclusively through email and offers undergrads a chance to ask all sorts of questions about graduate school and careers to graduate students. Along with advice for how to apply and prepare for grad school, the mentors also provide spiritual support. The undergrad students are encouraged to ask their mentors about anything related to graduate school or getting a job or how they keep their Christian faith throughout there years in college. The graduate student mentors are encouraged to also tell about themselves and how they decided to go to graduate school and to connect their mentee to other grad students who can also help them with specific questions or share their grad school experiences. The mentors and mentees email each other approximately weekly. There are no requirements for meeting up or any mandatory activities.
What was Lisa’s inspiration? [Read more…] about Resource for Grad Student mentoring of Undergraduates