DHC-- Davis Honors Challenge    Winter 2009

Undergraduate Mentoring Opportunities on the UCD Campus


Meeting sched:

Jan 8,Thurs 2-4pm at 3224 MSB
Jan 23, Friday 5:10pm at 3224MSB
Feb 6, Friday 5:15pm at 3224MSB
Tues, Feb 17, noon-1 in 3224MSB   to program?    
Weds, Feb 18 , probably noon-1 at (in Mrak 410) to meet the larger MTF     GREAT job on your presentation and the discussion after!!!

Feb 27, Friday, at 5:10pm.
Thurs , Mar 5 Convocation

Project overview:

It has been documented that mentoring can make a crucial difference in the development and retention of students and faculty alike, especially those from underrepresented minority groups or disadvantaged backgrounds. There are several mentoring programs on campus, such as Mentorships for Undergraduates in Research Participants in the Physical and Mathematical Sciences (MURPPS), Mentorships for Undergraduate Research in Agriculture, Letters, and Science  (MURAL), Biology Undergraduate Scholars Program (BUSP), and so on.  Mentoring can take  many forms, or be done on a less formal level.   
                                                        
Despite these opportunities, it is apparent that too many students and faculty are not aware of the numerous programs on campus. Consequently, many faculty ``reinvent the wheel" in launching their own mentoring efforts, not taking advantage of pre-existing resources or expertise on campus. Importantly, students are not aware of the opportunities available to them. Additionally, not everyone knows what mentoring really means or how to effectively do so.  In an effort to resolve this issue, the Academic Senate initiated the Mentoring Task Force (a subcommittee of the Affirmative Action &  Diversity Committee) which focuses on  exploring  (and proposing new) campus-wide undergraduate mentoring programs and centralizing resources on mentoring based on the growing recognition of the importance of increasing diversity at UC Davis and systemwide.                                        
                                                                                           
Charge to the team:  Learn about what information has been gathered to  date regarding mentoring activities/opportunities on campus through interviews with leaders of pre-existing mentoring programs and with task-force members. Design a website (or wiki) where all mentoring efforts (toward undergraduates) can be presented (much of this data has been collected).  As part of this project, research where is the most effective site to house this webpage, and find information on what mentoring is, or about mentorship training or available (funding) resources.                                                                                 
Investigate what resources are needed? How best to make this sustainable? Which practices work and which fizzle out? This can be accomplished in part by researching similar programs/webpages at other UC campuses and universities. Make recommendations on where to move next, once a website is up and running.                                                                         
                                                                                           
Sponsors:                                                                                  
Professor Monica Vazirani, Department of Mathematics, UCD & Chair of the Academic Senate Undergraduate Mentoring Task Force: email:  mjvazirani@ucdavis.edu; Phone: 752-2218 ; office 3224 MSB                                                  
                                                                                           
Professor Jon D. Rossini, Department of Theatre and Dance, UCD & Chair of the Affirmative Action & Diversity Committee;
email: jdrossini@ucdavis.edu; Phone: 754-9212  

Student team:
Michael Lee <doclee@ucdavis.edu>,
Grace Wong <gstwong@ucdavis.edu>,
Marcus Tang <mustang@ucdavis.edu>,
Lauren Richardson <lmrichardson@ucdavis.edu>,
Daniel Stevens <dastevens@ucdavis.edu>,
Jennifer Schmidt <jkschmidt@ucdavis.edu>,


ASUCD resources - Ivan Carrillo (president)
Senate - Lora Jo Bossio

documents and other resources compiled

mtf_mentoring_program_list_survey_072120.xls
UCD_undergrad_sponsored _rsch_programs_2.pdf

mentoring_survey_results_Qs3_4_5_11_modified_02052008.xls
results_mentoring_survey_analysis_01112008.doc
mentoring_survey_10232007_final.pdf
AAD_mentoring_proposal_10092007_exec_council.pdf