Student Peer Mentoring

Overview

The Peer Mentoring Program provides academic and peer support to first-year BUILDing SCHOLARS students to help make their college experiences exciting, fulfilling and successful. In particular, the program enables first-year scholars to effectively complete their educational objectives. Peer mentors are sophomore BUILDing SCHOLARS students who receive mentoring and leadership training every two weeks to prepare them to assist their mentees. Both mentors and mentees can benefit from the program.

Mentors and mentees are matched based on professional and personal similarities.

Program Objectives

Objective 1:

BUILDing SCHOLARS Peer Mentors will develop and enhance their strategic planning, emotional intelligence and mentoring and leadership skills, while facilitating mentoring relationships and creating a professional developmental network within the BUILD community of practice.

Objective 2:

BUILDing SCHOLARS Mentees (first-year BUILDing Scholars students) will develop successful strategies to enhance their academic and research performance, while creating a professional developmental network within the BUILD community of practice.

When can I participate in the program?

All first-year BUILDing SCHOLARS students participate in this program as mentees.

All sophomore BUILDing SCHOLARS students participate in the (zero-credit) peer mentoring training courses and engage in peer mentoring experiences during their sophomore year. This is a critical time for students to gain leadership skills through the process of mentoring their peers.

How do I become a peer mentor?

Peer mentoring training follows a successful model from the University of New Mexico Mentoring Institute. Our program was designed with the expert guidance of Dr. Nora Dominguez, Director of the Mentoring Institute. Students participate in the training, while actively engaging in peer mentoring so that what they learn can be readily applied.

What does the training involve?

Peer mentoring training comprises two general areas: 1) Basics of Mentoring and 2) Mentoring Competencies and Skills. The following is a breakdown of what will be covered during each semester.

For more information on the BUILDing SCHOLARS Peer Mentoring Program, please contact Angelica Monarrez Research Training Coordinator, at amonarrez5@utep.edu.