LIAISON

A NEWSLETTER
FOR THE
HUMAN
RESOURCE
DEVELOPMENT
NETWORK

June 1990
Volume 2; Number 6

 

College Mentors for all students

A Student Success Strategy Designed to Humanize

the College Experience

In 1988 concerns about the reten-
tion rate of students in the Gen-
eral Arts & Sciences Program led
the GAS faculty at George Brown
College to initiate a pilot men-
toring project to alleviate this
problem.

Key Aspects of the Mentoring
System Itself

- Rather than leaving the
first step to students, who are
often already overwhelmed by
the newness of everything, each
student is assigned a mentor at
orientation.

= The mentor meets with
his or her assigned group of 4 - 6
students immediateiy durine ori-
entation, and once a week the
first three weeks, then pesiudi-
cally and as requested.

= The mentor sees the stu-
dents in a group for the first few
times as this is more efficient for
imparting information and is less
threatening. [t also has the essen-
tial benefit of initiating and
strengthening bonds among stu-
dents. Once contact is estab-
lished, students can request pri-
vate time as necessary.

Getting Started
= It was initiated by the

faculty in the program and is a
real example of participative
democracy in action.

* Only those teachers who
volunteered were expected to be
mentors. Administration and
support staff also began partici-
pating during the second year of
this project.

. It does not cost the college
any money and teachers and staff
do not feel exploited.

' There is an ongoing effort
by the mentors to learn from the
experiences of others. Profes-
sional development workshops
relaied to mentoring have been
organized.

. The project is regularly
evaluated using the Freshman
Survey, the registrar’s retention
statistics, interviews with students
and teachers, and discussions at
faculty meetings.

>Page 2

Mentoring or
Faculty Advising
refers to

those supportive contacts, be-
tween student and teacher or
other college staff member,
which take place outside the
college and provide:

* orientation and ongoing
connection to the college
community

encouragement to become
involved and to succeed

feedback about academic
matters where possible

information as needed re-
garding academic, career or
personal concerns which
could interfere with the
learning process

information about the
institution as a system and
how to find your way
around the bureaucracy

opportunities for interac-
tion among students.

Mentors are not counsellors or experts in
career planning. Rather they are
friendly, supportive people who can deal
with the common concerns of students.
If the student has more serious or press -
ing needs, the mentor can refer them to
the appropriate support services in the
college or community.

 

Association of Canadian Community Colleges 110 Eglinton Avenue West,

Toronto, Ontario M4R 1A3

Telephone: (416) 489-5925

 

 

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