Participate: Online Mentoring for 2023-2024

Hello again Coalition members and friends,

Interest in online mentoring continues to be high! At this time, I am looking for several additional mentors to work with graduate students. Folx with experience in the areas of cultural rhetorics, global/transnational rhetoric, and/or digital rhetorics would be particularly valuable, but mentors in all areas are welcome.

Details of the online mentoring program are included below in my previous email. Here’s the link to the form for volunteers to complete: https://forms.gle/PRGE9uAneLWiaG918

Thank you in advance for your help!
-Wendy

In response to continued interest, we are pleased to offer our online mentoring program again this year! Whether you are new to the program or are returning to it, the online mentoring arrangement is a way for us to share knowledge about research, teaching, activism, and professional development by matching mentor-mentee pairs who will collaboratively establish a schedule whereby the mentee can make good progress on an agreed-upon project (i.e., job market/prepping application materials; planning research projects/fieldwork; writing/revising materials for publication; developing a syllabus; applying for grants; etc.) within six months or less. This year’s online mentoring cycle will run from November 2023 through May 2024. Of course, mentors and mentees may continue to work together beyond this official six-month cycle, if desired.

We are seeking both mentors and mentees. If you are interested in participating either as a mentor, a mentee, or both, please fill out this registration form by Monday, October 23, indicating your interest. There is a spot on the form to indicate whether you want to continue with last year’s arrangement, as well.

We want to be as flexible as possible so that mentoring pairs can figure out what works best for them, but we do offer some suggestions for getting started:

  • Determine which specific project you would like to work on with a mentor, or whether you would like help with less tangible things, such as gaining confidence in coursework or dealing with challenges in your workplace.
  • Determine how long you plan to commit. You may wish to start with a six-month commitment, and see how it goes.
  • Determine how often you would like to check-in with your mentor/mentee. Do you want to engage weekly, bi-weekly, monthly? What makes the most sense for your goals and schedules?
  • Determine which medium works best for your relationship (Zoom, WebEx, Facetime, email, phone, etc.).

Feel free to direct any questions to sharerw

All best,

Wendy Sharer,
Immediate Past President