ICAR Launches Mentor Program

For second-year ICAR M.S. student Tommy Tomiyama, a resume and a quick interview are not the stuff of meaningful professional relationships. "I tend to believe in continuous one-on-one instruction, instead of one-shot, office-hour meetings where you have to figure everything out from that brief conversation," he said. So when Tommy learned about the new Advisory Board mentoring program, which was launched in February, he knew he wanted to take part.

There are 18 students and seven Board members participating in the program. The first meeting on February 12 was "spectacular—the number of students who came, the energy in the room, and on a night when there was an ice storm," recalled Board Chair K.C. Soares, who will mentor two students. The program aims to foster long-lasting relationships between students and Board members. The pairs will focus on the students' professional development and personal goals. "I serve on the Board for the purpose of assisting ICAR students any way I can," explained Board member Lester Schoene, who is Tommy's mentor. Lester earned his M.S. degree from ICAR in 1992 and has served on the Board since 1997. "If by making myself available to them to offer guidance based on my ICAR experience, life experience or current work experience, I will do that."

The mentoring program "fills a void," said first year Ph.D. student Yves-Renee Jennings, who helped design the program with second-year M.S. student Matt Shugert.

Both serve as representatives to the Board from Graduate Students in Conflict Studies (GSCS), ICAR's student government. "Many students don't see how they can transition into the real world," said Yves-Renee. "They don't have access to practitioners and individuals who can guide them."

Upulee Dasanayake, a second-year M.S. student who will work with K.C., is eager to learn more about the intricate workings and internal cultures of international organizations such as the United Nations. While such nuanced questions might be difficult to ask a professional in the course of a regular conversation, Upulee said, they are easier to broach when one has a personal relationship with that expert.

For Michael Lawrence, a graduate certificate student who is featured in the ICAR Spotlight section of this newsletter, participating in the mentoring program enables him to make contacts with Board members who are working in the field of conflict resolution. "Being able to meet with Advisory Board members such as Rob Scott who works with ADR [Alternative Dispute Resolution] programs in the Federal Emergency Management Agency, I have learned about the big and growing demand of ADR within the federal government."

Students are matched with mentors based on common interests, as well as the need to ensure an equal distribution of mentees among the Board members. The concept first emerged four years ago among former Board member Craig Zelizer and students including M.S. candidate Vanessa Noël Brown and Ph.D. candidates Jeremy Rinker and Nancy Beiter, who had all served as GSCS representatives to the Board.

The Board, participating students and GSCS officers have high hopes for the relationships that develop from the program. "I hope it would be for life," said Upulee. "I don't want it to end when I graduate and leave ICAR." K.C. added that "this is serious with the Board. I want to get this going and have a really good relationship with students for two years, and for doctoral students who want to come." Tommy reported that his first meeting with Lester in mid-March was "amazing". The first part of the meeting was a personal resume clinic in which Lester "consulted me in improving my resume by helping me determine the important parts of my background and strengths," said Tommy. "Lester described his background and his work experience and said I could ask him anything and he would help if he could." Tommy is looking forward to being able to call on Lester for advice as he nears graduation and after-wards. Having a mentor, Tommy said, "is a huge asset".

For more information, or to sign up, please contact Matt at [email protected] or Yves-Renee at [email protected]