Dear Colleagues,
OSU launched the Beaver Connect undergraduate mentoring program in 2018 to better support new students, especially first generation students, students of color, and students with high financial need. As of this date, we need more faculty mentors for the 2023-24 academic year. I have served as a mentor myself in previous years and can attest that this is a very rewarding experience for both faculty and students.
Over 230 new students from nearly all colleges across the Corvallis campus have applied to participate in this year’s program. Please consider volunteering to mentor 3-4 students in a group, with the help of an undergraduate peer mentor. The peer mentor will facilitate scheduling and participate in biweekly group meetings. All groups should be finalized by end of the day on October 2.
The program prioritizes applications from students of color, first-generation college students, and those with high financial need entering OSU as new first-year or transfer students, and it works closely with students in the EOP and LSAMP bridge programs. Groups are expected to meet up to 15 times over the course of the academic year. The time commitment for faculty is 30 hours or less in total. An orientation to the program was held on September 19th via zoom and the recording and slides from that session will be shared out to interested faculty prior to being matched with a group. For more information about the program, please visit the website or contact [email protected] with questions.
A rigorous program evaluation has demonstrated that this program makes a significant difference in the retention of first year students. It’s a high impact effort. I hope you’ll consider participating.
Best wishes,
Edward Feser
Provost and Executive Vice President