Publisher
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Place of Publication
Chattanooga (Tenn.)
Abstract
The UTC I-O Psychology Graduate Program developed an alumni mentoring program to foster connections between current graduate students and alumni. The program, led by a student coordinator, alumni coordinator, and graduate program director, creates a mutually beneficial opportunity for students and alumni. Alumni (mentors) gain skills in coaching and mentoring, expand their network, and gain insights on current trends and research. Students (mentees) gain skills in networking and taking charge of their own development, and gain insights on how to apply evidence-based practices in the field. Successes of the program include building students’ confidence in their ability to translate class projects in interviews and jobs, engaging and connecting alumni across several graduation classes, and at times, providing job and internship opportunities to students. Program effectiveness is evaluated through midpoint, end of program, and post-event surveys, collecting both quantitative and qualitative data from mentors and mentees. As a result, the program has added more group events to foster connections across all participants and provided more resources to better support mentors and mentees in their journey. The success of the program would not be possible without the commitment and passion from our alumni and students, and the collaborative efforts by the coordinators and program director. The information provided will hopefully encourage other I-O graduate programs to implement similar mentoring programs at their own universities.
Date
10-16-2021
Subject
Industrial and organizational psychology
Document Type
posters
Language
English
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Included in
UTC industrial-organizational psychology alumni mentoring program: Fostering connections across I-O generations
The UTC I-O Psychology Graduate Program developed an alumni mentoring program to foster connections between current graduate students and alumni. The program, led by a student coordinator, alumni coordinator, and graduate program director, creates a mutually beneficial opportunity for students and alumni. Alumni (mentors) gain skills in coaching and mentoring, expand their network, and gain insights on current trends and research. Students (mentees) gain skills in networking and taking charge of their own development, and gain insights on how to apply evidence-based practices in the field. Successes of the program include building students’ confidence in their ability to translate class projects in interviews and jobs, engaging and connecting alumni across several graduation classes, and at times, providing job and internship opportunities to students. Program effectiveness is evaluated through midpoint, end of program, and post-event surveys, collecting both quantitative and qualitative data from mentors and mentees. As a result, the program has added more group events to foster connections across all participants and provided more resources to better support mentors and mentees in their journey. The success of the program would not be possible without the commitment and passion from our alumni and students, and the collaborative efforts by the coordinators and program director. The information provided will hopefully encourage other I-O graduate programs to implement similar mentoring programs at their own universities.
Department
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Dept. of Psychology