Student & Alumni Mentorship Program

Mount Mercy peer mentors are focused on helping their peers have a positive student experience. They can help mentees navigate the typical challenges of first-year students and will often share their own experiences or lessons they've learned.

Staff mentors serve a similar role but are more focused on connecting mentees with the appropriate campus resources. They also provide a safe space to ask questions about classes, campus, and the Mount Mercy community.

A faculty advisor specializes in helping students chart a course to graduate within a specific major. They are well versed in the Mount Mercy course catalog and academic requirements, as well as what electives and domain courses align best with their interests.

In this program, a mentor is typically not a current staff member, faculty member, or student at Mount Mercy, so they bring a different perspective to their interactions. While they can share details from their own student experiences, mentors will often be more focused on helping mentees navigate challenges outside of campus, such as identifying professional opportunities, evaluating graduate school options, expanding professional skills, and networking within their industry.

The offices of Career Services, Student Services, and Development & Alumni Relations review all mentor and mentee applications to facilitate a deliberate match. Matches are based on a variety of criteria such as career interests, academic experiences, shared interests or hobbies, and educational backgrounds.

Matches identified for the upcoming academic year will be notified in early August.

Because we want to ensure the best fit between our mentees and mentors, we may not always have the right match at the time. Any mentor applicants who are not immediately matched with a mentee will be held on file and considered for future mentoring opportunities. With several career-focused events happening throughout the year, we may also reach out and request your participation.

While every effort is made to ensure that our mentor-mentee matches are a good fit, there may be times when a long-term commitment no longer suits your needs. Jennifer McNabb, Director of Project Connect, can help you with any changes to your mentoring arrangements.

While an internship is not an expectation of the mentoring arrangement, it is certainly possible under the right circumstances.

Not all mentors will be in roles with hiring authority or in industries that offer internships, so this would be arranged on a case-by-case basis.

The most successful mentors focus on the whole person and not just on professional identity. However, it often takes time to get to that place of trust with a new relationship.

During your first few meetings, you both may be more comfortable keeping your conversations focused on academic and professional success. As you get to know one another more, expanding your discussions to include your personal goals and challenges may come naturally—this is an ideal area for students to take cues from a mentor.

If you're both interested in talking about more areas of life right from the start, feel free to share what you’re comfortable with.