Overview
Mentors and mentees are accepted into the ANUW Mentoring Program on an annual basis and are expected to participate in their “matched pair” for a period of one year, typically running April – December. Each mentor-mentee pair will develop their own regular meeting schedule and are encouraged to meet at least once a month. They are also strongly encouraged to attend the program events throughout the course of the program.
Benefits of Mentoring
Mentoring is something that can benefit everyone. It helps both the mentee and the mentor recognize their true abilities and, in the process, discover exciting areas for future development.
- Stimulates new thoughts about career development and career potential.
- Help to increase motivation – the mentee gains a new direction or perspective while the mentor feels a sense of achievement when their mentee succeeds.
- Develop communication skills including, listening/questioning skills and conversing with colleagues in other areas and levels of the University.
- The experiences and skills of helping another, coaching, and mentoring may continue in other areas of life, personal and professional.
Program History
In November 2011 the first mentoring committee gathered to explore the question: What does mentoring mean to ANUW? This first mentoring committee operated as a think-tank. Five months later, the group proposed a mentoring model to the ANUW Executive Board. In May 2011, the ANUW Executive Board approved the proposal to create a mentoring program. The current mentoring committee works to implement and further develop this original proposal.
The ANUW Mentoring Program would not be here today if it were not for the ANUW 2011-2012 president, Beth Clifford Smith. Beth brought together the original mentoring committee, which started this amazing mentoring journey. From November 2011 to March 2012 the original committee poured over programs, qualities, and facts of existing mentoring programs. The original mentoring committee members were: Ila Allen, Karen Allen, Sheri Carsello, Holly Erickson, Ellen Feldman, Daina Fernandez, Gail Higgins, Carol Michelini, and Sherry Minton.
With the mentoring proposal approved by the 2011-2012 ANUW Board, the mentoring committee officially became part of the ANUW Executive Board structure. This allowed the mentoring committee to focus on the more detailed tasks of implementation. For this phase of the program, Sherry Minton and Holly Erickson (both a part of the original think-tank committee) teamed up to be co-chairs of the implementation mentoring committee. Today, the mentoring implementation committee manages and updates the ANUW mentoring program based on the ANUW mentoring model. Thank you to all the members of this committee for tirelessly working through processes and procedures that help the program run successfully. The implementation mentoring committee members were: Karen Allen, Holly Erickson, Daina Fernandez, Gail Higgins, Sherry Minton, Amanda Stasinski, and Toni Montgomery.
Program Guidelines
- By completing and submitting the application, an applicant is committing to participate in the ANUW Mentoring Program.
- An applicant may apply as either a mentee or a mentor per mentoring cycle.
- Any information you include in your application may be viewed by the committee and mentors of the ANUW Mentoring Program.
- The ANUW Mentoring Committee will review all submitted applications for completeness and verification of current ANUW membership. If an applicant is not a current ANUW member, she will be notified and given the chance to become a member so that she may participate in the ANUW Mentoring Program.
- All applicants cannot be guaranteed a place in the Mentoring Program. The amount of selected mentor/mentee pairings for each application cycle will be determined by the number of accepted applicants.
- Mentees will be given the opportunity to review profiles of the mentor applicants and name their top five choices. They may also indicate if a mentor would not be a good fit, e.g., former hiring manager, colleague, family member.
- Mentees are not guaranteed one of their top five choices. Final selections will be determined by the ANUW Mentoring Program Committee and will be based upon a combination of the mentee’s desired choice, areas of interest as well as the mentors’ corresponding expertise.
- Mentors and mentees of the ANUW Mentoring Program are not required to, nor should be expected to, find new career positions for one another. Using your mentor or mentee as a “recruiter” is not a fair expectation of the partnership.
- Contact between program participants before official final match notification is discouraged.
- During the course of the mentoring program, if one party needs to terminate the relationship, you agree to abide by the decision of the other party. By entering the program you agree to a no-fault conclusion in the mentoring relationship.
- By participating in the ANUW Mentoring Program, you allow ANUW Mentoring to use photos, survey data, or application responses to promote ANUW and/or ANUW Mentoring.
- Questions regarding the application can be directed to anuw-mentoring@northwestern.edu.
Mentor Overview
Mentoring is an exciting opportunity to bring women together, to learn from one another to network, to grow, and to further develop personal and professional skills.
Mentoring requires
- Asking thoughtful and thought-provoking questions
- Practice active listening
- Role-modeling behavior
- Providing objective feedback and guidance
- Critical thinking
- Facilitating self-reflection and self-development
- Passion to support the growth of another person
- Time, energy, and enthusiasm
Benefits
- Help another and satisfaction of seeing mentee succeed
- Opportunity to share your professional experiences, insights, and lessons learned
- Help mentee avoid pitfalls and improve skills
- Increase awareness of workplace and staff issues
- Expand your own professional network
- Increase active listening skills
- Just plain “feeling good!”
- Recognition and appreciation
- Knowledge of good mentoring techniques to use in future relationships
- Gain further insights/alternative perspectives about the University as a whole
Expectations of ANUW Mentors
- Share your career story
- Listen and ask probing questions
- Share relevant examples and stories about workplace realities and challenges
- Help create goals (skill and developmental) for the relationship
- Share relevant examples of competencies – ask questions
- Discuss progress and pitfalls
- Celebrate successes
- Evaluate the relationship
- View the relationship as a mutual exchange or a partnership where both parties benefit
Mentee Overview
Being a mentee is an exciting and valuable opportunity for any professional woman – at any age and at any stage of a career. It can give you a sense of direction, build self-confidence, and help grow your network. It’s having a role model to talk to, a coach in your corner, a champion on your side, a guide in your professional journey, and an advisor who knows you well.
The following are some strategies to help mentees build a relationship with their mentors:
- You control the course of your own development. It’s up to you to identify your goals for the relationship, as well as keep the focus on achieving them.
- Use active listening skills in discussions with your mentor.
- Be prepared to ask for specific advice on your skill set, ideas, plans, and goals. The more specific you are, the easier it will be for your mentor to respond.
- Be engaged and communicate clearly and succinctly.
- Be responsive and make it easy for your mentor to give you honest, specific feedback. Ask for it early in your relationship.
- If you get some corrective feedback, don’t defend yourself. Thank your mentor for being honest with you. Then follow it up by asking for specific examples.
Benefits
- Expansion of personal/professional network
- Build confidence
- Enhance career trajectory or career path
- Increased self-awareness and discipline
- Sounding board for ideas/plans
- Potential to accelerate development and growth
- Positive and constructive feedback on personal and professional development issues
- Improve workplace skills
- Increase resources and tools to solve workplace issues
- Achieve goals set forth
Expectations of ANUW Mentees
- It’s your job to develop and communicate your goals, not your mentor’s job
- Stay active and engaged in the relationship and follow through on your commitments
- Keep expectations realistic and clear
- Accept both positive and negative feedback: it’s important for your growth!
- Be yourself and be honest
- Don’t be afraid of your mentor’s silence
- Give back
- Pay it forward
Eligibility
The ANUW Mentoring Program is an initiative of the Association of Northwestern University Women (ANUW). Applications are for ANUW members only.
Mentee requirements:
- Currently in a staff position at Northwestern University
- Currently a member of ANUW
Mentor requirements:
- Currently in a staff position at Northwestern University
- Currently a member of ANUW
- 2-5 years professional experience
- Employed for at least 1 year at Northwestern University
Not an ANUW member yet? Join today!
Program Requirements
Mentors and mentees will be expected to participate in the full length of the program. Each mentor-mentee pair will develop their own regular meeting schedule and are encouraged to meet at least once a month. They are also strongly encouraged to attend the program events throughout the course of the program.
Selection Process
The ANUW Mentoring Program Committee reviews each application for eligibility. There is no limit of mentor or mentee participants in each annual application cycle. However, the amount of selected mentor/mentee pairings for each application cycle will be determined by the number of accepted applicants participating as mentors. This means that if mentee applicants out-number the available mentors, some mentees will not be able to participate and will need to wait for the next annual application cycle. All applicants will be notified by email of their status in the program.
Choosing a Mentor
After the application closes, Mentees will be provided a link to a webpage that will contain information about the participating mentors for the program. Mentees will have the opportunity to review each mentor application and submit their top five choices to the ANUW Mentoring Program Committee. Every effort will be made to accommodate the mentee’s desired choice, but it is not guaranteed. Final pairing will be determined by the ANUW Mentoring Program Committee and will be based upon of a combination of the mentee’s desired choice, areas of interest as well as the mentor’s corresponding expertise.
Events
Event |
Date |
Time |
Location |
Chicago: Info session |
January 28 |
12-1 pm |
Feinberg Pavilion, Conference Room B |
Evanston: Info session |
January 30 |
12-1 pm |
Live Webinar |
Breakfast Mixer |
March 14 |
7:30-9 am |
Evanston: Scott Hall, Guild Lounge |
Mentee: Brown Bag #1 |
April 16 |
12-1 pm |
Evanston: Norris, 104 Big Ten Room |
Mentee: Brown Bag #1 |
April 16 |
12-1 pm |
Chicago: Feinberg Pavilion, Conference Room D |
Mentor: Brown Bag #1 |
TBD |
12-1 pm |
TBD |
Happy Hour |
May 23 |
4:30-6 pm |
TBD, Chicago |
Summer Celebration Lunch |
June 26 |
12-1 pm |
Norris, 202 – Northwestern Room |
Brown Bag #2 |
August 14 |
12-1 pm |
Evanston: Norris, 101 – Wildcat room |
Brown Bag #2 |
August 14 |
12-1 pm |
Chicago: Prentice Women’s Hospital, Conference room L (North) |
Coffee hour |
September 18 |
7:30-9 am |
TBD |
Workshop |
October 23 |
12-1 pm |
Norris, 102 – Evans room |
End of Year Celebration |
December 12 |
4-5:30 pm |
John Evans Center |
Mentoring Info session
Resources
Looking for additional resources and information on mentoring? Useful books, articles, websites, and other resources to support you, whether you are a mentor or a mentee, are listed below. Feel free to share any great resources you find along the way as well!
Article List
Mentoring
Skill Development
Leadership
Book List
- Be Your Own Mentor: Strategies from Top Women on the Secrets of Success | Sheila Wellington and Betty Spence
- Coming Up for Air: How to Build a Balanced Life in a Workaholic World | Beth Sawi
- First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently | Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
- Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead | Sheryl Sandberg
- The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success | Nicholas Lore
- StrengthsFinder 2.0 | Tom Rath
Activities
- Attend the next ANUW event together.
- Pick a book under suggested reading and discuss it as you move through the title.
- Agree to read one of the articles posted and discuss your perspective at your next meeting.
- Complete the Power Map Activity and talk through how this is impacting you.
- Explore the education videos on Leanin.org. Agree to watch a topic and discuss the content in your next meeting.
- Refine and/or add to your goals as you move through the program.
Mentoring Minute newsletter
Other Resources
Frequently Asked Questions
General
What is the difference between ANUW and the Mentoring Program?
-
ANUW (est. 1988): Membership is open to all women in permanent staff positions at Northwestern. ANUW focuses on professional development, supporting women in administration, and fostering a sense of community among women staff members. The ANUW Mentoring Program (est. 2012): Created specifically for ANUW members, it focuses on pairing ANUW members in one-on-one mentoring relationships.
Do I have to set up goals with my mentor?
-
Goal setting is an important part of mentoring, it is not required. It has many different forms such as career, professional development, and/or mentoring relationship goals. Discuss goal setting early in building a mentoring experience.
How long is the Mentoring Program?
- The program officially begins in April and ends in December. We hope mentoring relationships carry on past our programming events.
Do I need to attend all of the programming events with my mentor or mentee?
- No, it is not required that you attend the mentoring events as a pair; however, we do encourage it to build your relationship.
Can mentors have more than one mentee per program?
- No, the program is set up to be a one to one match for that programming year.
Application Process
Can I apply to be a mentor and a mentee?
- No, you must choose to either be a mentor OR a mentee. However, you can return to the program next year to participate again in a different role.
What are the participation requirements?
- All applicants must be members of ANUW ($15 annual fee with access to all ANUW programs). Mentors must have a minimum of one year of Northwestern employment, 2-5 years of experience in their field, and the interest to serve as a mentor. Mentees must have the interest and be ready to have a mentor.
Matching Process
Do I get to choose my mentor?
- Mentees are able to recommend five mentor preferences based on the mentor’s application.
Do I have to select five mentor preferences?
- No. The committee does their best to match mentees with their preferred selections, but it is not guaranteed.
How are mentors and mentees matched?
- Matches are made by the mentoring committee based on mentee preferences, the experience of mentors, and the areas of interest for all applicants.
Are mentor profiles private?
- Yes. Mentor profiles are located in Northwestern Box which is password protected.
Mentoring Relationship
What happens if my mentoring relationship does not work? Can I get a new mentor?
- At this time, we are only able to provide one mentor per mentee each cycle. The Mentoring Committee co-chairs and members are available to assist if you run into any issues. Please reach out to us via email at any time with questions. If your match does not work out, we recommend reapplying for the next cycle to be paired with a new mentor.
How often should I meet with my mentor?
- If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us via email