Vol. 5, No. 1: Spring/Summer 2009
A Campuswide Network of Support
by Sonya Stephens
The classroom experience may be the heart of higher education, but students at all levels often make their greatest strides in learning through the sustained one-on-one instruction that comes from a fruitful mentoring relationship. Mentoring is not a one-way transfer of wisdom and advice, however, but rather a reciprocal exchange; it has been shown that mentors are energized, and their worked enriched, by contact with their mentees.
IU Bloomington freshman composition students benefit from the carefully structured mentoring between experienced and new graduate student teachers. Composition Program Director and Professor of English Christine Farris works closely with four assistant directors, seasoned teachers pursuing doctorates in the department such as Jonathan Blandford, who advise new teachers during a weeklong orientation program at the end of the summer, and meet weekly with them throughout the fall semester.
A national leader in preparing doctoral students for life as faculty, the IU Department of Sociology arranges for students to shadow professors at Indiana’s DePauw University and Hanover College. In fall 2008, Kerry Greer taught her first sociology class at IU while visiting DePauw to shadow Professor of Sociology Rebecca Bordt. With the veteran teacher’s help, Greer incorporated more structured group work into her class, while Bordt in turn learned from Greer’s habit of circulating through the room while students interact.
Peer instructors in the Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs) program must work hard to establish their authority and gain the respect of the students with whom they work and live, as part of a learning community structured around a theme, such as sports medicine. But FIGs peer instructors Danny Weddle, Amy Bastawros, and Carolyn Rhodeback have also learned that, as peer role models, they can have greater impact on their students’ behavior than more traditional instructors.
Less formal mentoring relationships, like those established between American and international students through the Conversation Exchange program, also succeed because of the common ground shared by peers. Over the course of a semester, junior economics major Tom Gatto not only helped Turkish student Korknaz Yildrim improve his English, but also conveyed invaluable lessons on American cultural practices that international students have trouble picking up on their own.
The Cox Research Scholars Program pairs promising students from the state of Indiana with faculty mentors. Freshman Rebecca Rice carries out bird research with Professor of Biology Ellen Ketterson and other scientists in her lab. Sophomore Jacob Fisk spends most of his time with Professor of Scenic Design Fred Duer in the scene shop, working on lighting and scenic design for theater and film. Junior Dominique McGee assists Professor of Law Kevin Brown with a number of research projects, including a study comparing African Americans to the “untouchable” caste in India.
Hundreds of school, departmental, and program advisors offer guidance to students about classes and majors, but also about issues that can make the difference between success and failure. Vincent Isom, one of eight advisors for the Groups Student Support Services program, which serves students from under-represented populations, helps advisees plan class schedules, network with other university programs, and deal with common first-year problems such as homesickness and poor study habits.
At Indiana University Bloomington, mentors come from the ranks of faculty, staff, and students, to create a network of support, formal and informal, that suffuses campus, buttressing and complementing the instruction that takes place in the classroom.
