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Keenan Valentine, graduate student mentor, at the launch of Graduate Students Mentoring Undergraduates.

Graduate Students Mentoring Undergraduates, a new mentoring program to foster connections between graduate and undergraduate students from underrepresented populations, was officially launched March 14.

"We hope to provide graduate students with a professional development opportunity as mentors and role models while also providing to undergraduates the graduate students' first-hand perspectives on what it is like to go to graduate school," said Sheri Notaro, associate dean for inclusion and professional development at the Graduate School, who developed the program with Ricardo Gonzalez, program adviser and coordinator of the Pre-Professional Programs: Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) and Cornell Professional Opportunities Program (CPOP), in the Office of Academic Diversity Initiatives.

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Ashley Wilcox '12, mentee, discusses her expectations for the new program with other participants.

Their discussions should help undergraduates decide whether to attend graduate school and give them an understanding of the process of applying, what makes for a successful graduate school application and what it's like to be a graduate student, Notaro said.

Gonzalez said that the program was developed in response to a need for more opportunities for mentoring and networking voiced by a number of underrepresented undergraduate students last spring.

The program is starting out as a pilot program to determine which aspects are most beneficial to the participants, Notaro said. The initial time commitment is minimal and the program is informal, involving just a couple of activities before the academic year ends.

Mentors were chosen from the graduate student of color groups, based on their academic success and record of outreach, community service and mentoring experience. The mentors engaged in a discussion of mentor and mentee responsibilities and expectations with Notaro and Gonzalez prior to the start of the program. Plans are under way to provide mentor training for the graduate student participants. All undergraduates who participate in the Pre-Professional Programs were invited to become mentees.

On March 14, 10 undergraduates and seven graduate students attended the meeting. The mentees were matched with mentors based on interests in general, rather than on specific fields. In small groups, the participants then expressed their expectations of the program.

Graduate students noted that they hoped to "demystify the grad experience" for undergraduates, had found value in having mentors in their own lives and would encourage their mentees to establish networks and become visible to their faculty, department chairs and assistants, because those are the people who share resources, information and career opportunities. Undergraduates noted that they appreciated the direct contact with graduate students from various fields and finding out what they needed to do to prepare for graduate school. They also discussed with their mentors the advantages and disadvantages of taking time off between their undergrad and graduate years.

Going forward, the mentors and mentees will meet both individually and in small groups.