As a TA for an introductory CS class, I noticed that a lot of my students -- especially the women -- lacked a mentor to help guide them up the steep learning curve that is entering tech. Role models are important, but having someone to answer your questions, understand your concerns, and advise you normalizes beginner feelings of uncertainty and inadequacy. Under the umbrella of Northwestern Women in Computing, I started a women in tech mentorship program last March. I want to share with you how I did it, and what I've learned along the way from trial & error and participant feedback.
Listen to what your community needs. If it is not a mentorship program, don't fret: there are tons of other awesome tech & computing related programming that you can implement.
In order to start a successful mentorship program, you will need the following:
- Mentees: university upperclassmen, graduate students, professors, industry employees
- Mentors: university underclassmen & upperclassmen, graduate students
- Faculty advisor (optional)
- Student co-founders/assistants (optional)
Note that there is some overlap between who can be a "mentor" and who can be a "mentee." It may be easiest for you to have interested participants self-identify as a mentor, mentee, or both so that their needs are optimally met.
So how do you recruit these mentors & mentees? Mentees are often found in introductory CS classes. If you can get the support intro-level professors, ask them to send out an email to their students about your new mentorship program. Both mentors and mentees can be found in tech clubs, engineering classes, etc. Faculty can also make amazing mentors, time permitting.
Faculty advisors are not mandatory at most universities, but they can be incredibly helpful if you want your mentorship program to be more "formal." This makes booking classrooms easier and allows you to host more expensive (i.e. FREE FOOD) events. However, having an "informal" mentorship program works as well -- in this case, mentorship program meetings might occur off-campus in coffee shops, restaurants, apartments, etc.
Student co-founders and assistants can help you come up with awesome ideas, connect you with new mentors/mentees, and help you avoid spreading yourself too thin.
Personally, I got the support of a graduate student and WiC's faculty advisor before I sought out mentors and mentees. I leveraged my role as a TA to get students excited about the forthcoming program.
It is your decision to create an all-female or mixed-gender mentorship prorgram. I leave this in your hands.
It seems like mentees get the bulk of the benefit from a mentorship program, doesn't it?
Something that I've noticed about tech people is that there is a surprisingly substantial subset of them that are seeking opportunities to give back to the community. In fact, one of the most frequent things that WiC members ask for is more outreach opportunities. Assuming you have a network in your university's CS/tech community, you probably know who these people are. Go recruit them as mentors!
Think about who you looked (or look!) up to when you started coding. Think about who the leaders in your school's tech community are. Don't forget graduate students! All great starting places for finding mentors.
If your university is near a large city or tech hub, consider inviting people in your local tech industry as mentors. Companies -- especially big companies -- are looking for outreach opportunities... and, let's be real, they would love to recruit future employees.
I created a Google Form to help match mentors with mentees. Here are some of the questions we asked in order to match mentors and mentees:
- What is your major/minor? How would you characterize your field of study?
- Briefly describe your background in and motivations for choosing tech.
- What are your CS/technology interests?
- What are your vocational or academic aspirations?
I based my matches primarily off of the last two questions, and if there was no clear match, then I incorporated the first two. I also tried to pair people who were not close friends already.
In the feedback that I received, mentorship program participants said that they would rather be matched based on interests than on fields of study. Upperclassmen additionally expressed a desire for more graduate student mentors, since it can be uncomfortable for two people in the same grade to be mentor and mentee, respectively.
Another note on matching: some people that I talked to thought it would be an interesting idea to have a kick-off meeting first, and then give mentees a preference of whom they wish to have as a mentor.
To lessen the awkwardness of meeting a mentor or mentee for the first time, I recommend holding a kick-off meeting in which mentors and mentees can mingle. This way, you can also share any important announcements that you have about the mentorship program with a large audience of participants. I hosted this kick-off event over a dinner in order to draw more people in. :)
I suggest that mentors and mentees meet 3-4 times in a semester (2-3 times in a trimester). Based on feedback that I received, participants prefer organized events to which they can bring their mentor or mentee. These could be informal events that you throw (i.e. movie nights, dinners), or tech events at your university (i.e. hack nights, hackathons, speakers).
As for informal one-on-one meetings, getting coffee or grabbing lunch are classics. If a mentor or mentee is in a cool research lab or club, they can invite their mentor or mentee as another way of getting together.
IMPORTANT: This mentorship program is not the same as a tutoring program. That's what TAs are for. Emphasize this to your mentors and mentees so that they can have meaningful interactions when they meet.
I sent out mid-trimester and post-trimester surveys on Google Forms to participants seeking their feedback. The first iteration of your mentorship program is bound to have mistakes. As in agile, it's best to fail fast so that your next iteration is even better.
Feel free to reach out with any questions to alainakafkes2017@u.northwestern.edu.