Can you offer some advice on how to find a mentor?
Having a faculty mentor is central to our Program’s philosophy. He or she must be a full time CUNY faculty member and also teaching at a senior college. Here are a few tips on how to search for a mentor:
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1) Ask a professor that you have a class with right now or had in the past. It he/she can’t serve as your mentor maybe they could recommend somebody. Â Â Â
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2) Ask your fellow classmates about faculty members that they have had a positive experience with.
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3) Reach out to relevant departments. Try to speak with a faculty advisor from a department that you’re taking courses in. Â
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4) Research faculty members’ profiles (usually posted on department websites) to find out about their areas of expertise. Match that with your own interest and prepare a list of potential mentors. Contact them via phone or email.
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5) Try to schedule a meeting. Come prepared, that is with a list of courses that you think should be included in your AOC. Â Be open to guidance and suggestions.
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6) During your initial interview, you were given a guide for faculty mentors titled “Partners in Learning”  which you can share with your mentor. You can direct your potential faculty mentor to the Faculty Mentors section of our website. He/she may also contact our Academic Director, Dr. Hartswick, at (khartswick@gc.cuny.edu).
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One response so far
These are all great suggestions. I found my Mentors by first searching through the departmental websites at the campuses where I would be taking most of my classes for each of my AOCs. I read all the bios and then tried to gauge whose experiences could connect somehow to my interests. I also Googled them and looked them up on one of those student-rate-your-professor websites (I take those reviews with a grain of salt but sometimes they do offer interesting insights). Then I sent them emails and set up meetings.
It took a while to get meetings with them because my work schedule conflicted with their office hours — but I asked if they would even be able to meet for coffee on one of my days off. I was lucky with both — I had coincidentally emailed her one day when she had gone to her office unexpectedly, so she told me to drop by. There was no line waiting for her when I got there! The other Professor invited me to meet her outside of school. I’m very happy with how it turned out - I have two distinct Areas of Concentration and two Mentors who had valuable information for me even at our first meetings. One of my Mentors has mentored CUNY BA students many times before, and the other is a first-timer.
Another suggestion: Get on email lists or visit blogs for the department you are interested in to receive notification of any events or get-togethers they might sponsor, and email the department chair or secretary and find out if you can attend. Going to something like that could lead to meeting professors in person.