Dear Biology, Chemistry, and Physics Graduate Students,
- Are you an international graduate student?
- Are you a Bio, Chem, or Physics GSI, or will you be in the future?
- Would you enjoy meeting weekly with an undergraduate eager to hear your advice about graduate school and eager to share their insights on undergraduate culture(s)?
If so, we invite you to apply to become a co-mentor, meeting once a week this semester with an undergraduate co-mentor. We've pasted lots of information below about the program. Please feel free to send any questions our way:
Pamela Bogart, English Language Institute (ELI), pbogart@umich.edu
or Kelley Emerson, Science Learning Center (SLC), pke@umich.edu
ELI-SLC Co-Mentoring Program
for Undergraduates and International GSIs in LSA Science Departments
LSA’s English Language Institute (ELI) and Science Learning Center (SLC) seek enthusiastic, engaged international GSIs and SLC peer tutors or study group facilitators to join one another as co-mentors in this innovative co-curricular program.
Co-mentoring brings together pairs of individuals who play different roles in the same or similar fields to support one another and share their different perspectives on the same issues. The ELI-SLC Co-Mentoring Program pairs international GSIs in LSA science courses with undergraduates who are working with the SLC as peer tutors or study group facilitators supporting courses in these same fields.
Meet Past Co-Mentors and hear about their experiences in this video:
Co-mentors benefit from sharing their knowledge, skills, and experience with each other. They participate in an intercultural experience which crosses international/domestic and graduate/undergraduate boundaries, thus contributing to a more positive campus climate in which diversity and difference of viewpoints and experience are valued and celebrated.
- International GSIs in LSA science fields enjoy real-world English language practice, learn about US culture(s), and increase their understanding of the perspective of the US undergraduates they are teaching.
- Undergraduate peer tutors and study group facilitators gain intercultural competence, improve their knowledge of a STEM content-area, and gain insight into the experience of being a graduate student in a STEM field.
The ELI-SLC Co-Mentoring Program is a voluntary experience intended to foster fun, collaborative, informal relationships which enrich the experience and life of all participants and provide them with a unique personal and professional development experience. It does not constitute job training for either GSI or peer facilitator/tutor roles.
Application deadline: Wednesday, January 20, 2016, at midnight. To apply, click here. Selected applicants will be notified by Wednesday, January 27.
Opening orientation event: 6-7:30pm on Wednesday, February 3 at the English Language Institute (ELI).
For even more information, see this program description.
cc: Angelo Pitillo, Brenda Imber, Chris Feak (ELI), Kelley Emerson (SLC), Paula Hathaway (LSA Deans Office)
