Mentoring Program
All first year students have a staff mentor with whom they meet individually throughout the year.
The mentoring process is a crucial component of the College's commitment to developing the whole individual; by meeting individually with their mentor twice a semester, the student can receive advice on study skills, time management, and pastoral advice. The approach taken is holistic, in that study is most effective when a student's learning is integrated with his/her personal philosophy and general goals. Talking one-on-one in confidence with a mentor helps students to clarify their thinking, and work out where they wish to go with their degree - and how to get there. The mentoring relationship may continue after the first year; mentors can be a valuable source of advice when students continue on to postgraduate study and into the workforce.
Mentors can be members of the academic or administrative staff, or the chaplaincy team, but all share a commitment to the education and personal development of each student in the Trinity community.
The mentoring program is overseen by the Head of Academic Programs, Dr Sally Dalton-Brown (sdaltonb@trinity.unimelb.edu.au; tel. 9348 7149)
Professional Mentoring
Students can also apply to join Tinity's professional mentoring program, in terms of which they are put in contact with Trinity alumni. When students begin to assess their career prospects, professional mentors can provide an invaluable resource. The depth and range of experience of Trinity alumni is phenomenal, meaning that students can both receive guidance on their career ideas, and help with networking.
Such mentoring is in line with the Melbourne Model, which promotes a 'capstone' experience to students in their third year as part of a focus on how the components of a degree may be integrated into the workforce.
Professional mentoring is supported by a student initiative, the Oak Program, which invites alumni who have had interesting career changes to come on Thursday nights after dinner to discuss their path.
What is required from a professional mentor?
Mentors can chose to come to one of the mentoring dinners held each semester and at which mentees interested in their field are invited to talk to them before and after dinner in the JCR, and over dinner in Hall, or, if too busy, can choose the 'distance' mentoring approach, in terms of which the student emails and/or phones to ask for advice.
Mentor skills: Mentors possess:
- Self-awareness,
- broad knowledge, and an ability to offer synergistic solutions,
- a realistic grasp of the toughness of the workplace combined with the ability to support and encourage,
- articulacy, including an ability to get a mentee to ‘open up’ and be honest about what s/he really wants to achieve in life,
- trustworthiness,
- and the understanding that encouraging young people to develop their full potential is a highly rewarding activity.
The mentoring role has been defined as containing 3 core functions:
1. Establishing a relationship, and encouraging trust
2. Offering tailored advice
3. Facilitating, ie. introducing alternatives, opening up, and challenging, motivating, offering a model, encouraging initiative (Cohen, Mentoring adult learners, 1995)
A fourth function of course is that of acting as a role model.
The Professional Mentoring Program was re-lauched at Trinity on October 28th, 2009, with the assistance of TC alumni Jono Gourlay and Mark Leslie. 26 College students across all years were able to meet with mentors in the fields of medicine, law, commerce, PR, architecture and media, and receive advice. Since that dinner, several mentees have met up individually with their mentors for coffee and further discussions about life and work.
The next mentoring dinner will take place in March-April 2010. If you would like to become part of the program and to be invited to that event or to the following, in semester 2, please contact Dr Sally Dalton-Brown (sdaltonb@trinity.unimelb.edu.au; 9348 7149), who oversees the program jointly with Vincent Ramos in the Advancement Office.
Internships
Trinity also has a link with a prestigious global consulting firm, which offers a summer internship each year. Applications for that internship, from students in their penultimate year, should be submitted to Dr Dalton-Brown in April of each year (the exact date will be advertised nearer the time).