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Second Career Mentoring Program
The School of Nursing has developed a Second Career Alumni Mentoring Program (SCAMP) in collaboration with the Alumni Society. The purpose of SCAMP is to provide Second Career nursing students with the opportunity to work with alumni mentors who can facilitate their socialization into the profession.
This year, we are piloting the program with the Second Career students who are began in the fall, 2009. The current Second Career Program (SCP) is an intensive, accelerated 12-month curriculum in which students with baccalaureate degrees in fields other than nursing achieve a BSN. These students have a variety of baccalaureate degrees in fields such as basic sciences, arts and humanities, liberal arts, engineering, and business. They are bright and motivated to make a career change into nursing. We have many applicants for only 64 slots, thus, admission to the program is very competitive.
We believe that School of Nursing Alumni has a great deal to offer these students during their program and as novices in their first position. Your experiences as a nurse, your knowledge and involvement with professional nursing issues, and your understanding of career opportunities and advancement can influence the personal and professional development of these exceptional students. Thus, we are seeking School of Nursing alumni who would make a commitment to serve as a mentor for a Second Career student throughout the 12 months of their nursing program and potentially into the early months of their first position. Attached you will find a description of SCAMP, mentor role and responsibilities, and an application to participate in this program. We will match students with mentors based on the information you provide. You DO NOT have to live in the Ann Arbor/Detroit area to be a mentor. There are multiple ways to communicate with your mentee including email and telephone.
Since this is a pilot program, we will be evaluating it over the next 18-24 months. We will ask you to participate in brief surveys and interviews to provide us information about its strengths and weaknesses so that we can conduct continuous quality improvement.
We plan to match students and mentors by the end of November. Therefore, we ask that you complete and return the attached application by November 15th. We hope that you will consider this unique opportunity. Your involvement will help launch new professional nurses and contribute to quality programs at the School of Nursing.
Sincerely,
Bonnie M. Hagerty, PhD, RN
Assistant Dean, Undergraduate Programs
School of Nursing
sn-oaa@umich.edu
734-764-7188
Alumni Mentor Roles and Responsibilities
Roles of the Mentor:
- Be a Role Model: Be the “go to” person for your mentee
- Be a Resource Person: Be knowledgeable and current about nursing and where to access information
- Be an Active Listener: Listen to what your mentee is saying, be open, be flexible, and maintain confidentiality
- Be a Counselor: Establish trust, give tools for success, coach but don’t parent
- Be a Motivator: Be supportive, give positive feedback, don’t be negative to ideas, expect and respect changes
- Be a Career Guide: Advise for advancement in the career ladder, encourage advancement in nursing, encourage returning for advanced degrees
Responsibilities of the Mentor:
- Serve as a role model
- Be a resource person
- Be a good listener
- Feel comfortable coaching
- NOT be a parent or counselor
- Supply tools for problem solving but not solve problems for the mentee
- Be encouraging, motivating, supportive and give positive feedback
Selection of Mentors:
- Mentors are the more experienced alumni at the School of Nursing
- Mentors must be skilled and knowledgeable about nursing practice
- Mentors must not be the mentee’s supervisor or someone that evaluates the student (no input will be given to the evaluation of the student to a faculty)
- Mentors must be able to make a commitment to the program for a minimum of 12 to 24 months
- Mentors must have a positive attitude
Benefits to the Mentors:
- This is an opportunity to develop leadership, communication, and coaching skills
- Mentors have the opportunity to learn and advance their own skills through teaching and mentoring
- Mentors have the opportunity to leave a legacy by imparting their wisdom to a less experienced nursing student
- Mentors can help retain talent in the School of Nursing by offering and participating in a successful mentoring program
- Mentors help novice and beginning student nurses feel valued and accepted into the nursing culture
- Mentoring decreases social isolation felt by new novice nurses and help retain them in the profession of nursing
- Mentoring helps the students adapt to the culture of nursing
References:
Developing a Nursing Framework for General Practice Nurses:
Dr Marie Heartfield, Ms Terri Gibson, Dr Colleen Chesterman, Ms Lynette Tagg
February 2003
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