All About Mentoring Spring 2011 - SUNY Empire State College

41
Mentoring: A Social Relationship,
An Academic Partnership
John M. Beckem II, Center for Distance Learning
Through a quick Google search,
I found Empire State College:
Everywhere and Online. Intrigued
by the format and the SUNY affiliation, I
applied for an area coordinator position at
the college’s Center for Distance Learning
(CDL), interviewed, and was offered the
job. Prior to my start date, I re-read the
job description and saw the “mentoring”
portion, which seemed to be a large part of
this “teaching” job. I called the dean, Meg
Benke, and asked, “So what is mentoring”
and she answered simply, “It’s similar to
advising but from a bigger perspective. You
correspond with students and help them to
plan their degrees.”
At the start of my new job with the college,
I assumed I would be helping students
choose “classes” from different topic areas
and requirements to “customize” their
degree programs.
That’s the point where my mentoring
career began.
I learned that a mentor is not an advisor.
Mentoring is more than course selection.
Mentoring is a constantly-evolving
process that changes with each person,
program and point in time. Mentoring is
a social relationship based on an academic
partnership. I have celebrated grandbabies
with my student mentees; I have coached
them through military transitions; I sent a
sympathy card to a now-graduate whose
mom recently died. For the first time in
my career, as a mentor, I have a chance to
bring together all of my experiences and
perspectives – academic, corporate and
military – to help guide and shape the
future of other learners. This is an
opportunity and a gift.
With a basic understanding of the mentoring
philosophy, I’m ready to begin my first
student relationship. Like any other smart
professional, I ask my colleagues, “So what
is degree program planning How do you
actually do it”
That’s the point where my mentoring
career evolved.
I realized that I felt exactly how our students
feel when they begin – except I am not the
person who is returning to school after
raising kids for 20 years. I am not the bank
vice president pressured to earn a bachelor’s
degree by December 2011. I am not the
high school graduate trying to work, impress
my parents and pay my car insurance,
which is due next week. I am the person
who needs to help students figure out how
to choose 128 credits to create a balanced,
quality degree program, consistent with
SUNY and Empire State College policies,
which will be accepted by the faculty
assessment committee. I realized that to
truly understand my mentees, I needed
to embrace their concerns and be able to
relate to the anxiety of a first-term Empire
State College student, from financial aid
questions to academic research, technology,
instructor communication concerns, and
so much more.
Motivated and empowered, I wanted
to learn all I could to help students to
be successful in their academic career at
Empire State College. At CDL, I met with
Cynthia Flynn, director of operations, to
understand how the entire process works
from recruitment to acceptance, in both
paper and electronic formats. I met with
Joe Boudreau, coordinator for special
programs and retention, to find out what
factors contribute most to student success
at the college. I asked Craig Lamb, director
of academic support, how I could help my
students meet their various academic needs.
I also spoke to Chuck VanVorst, who works
for the college’s Office of Veteran and
Military Education, to see what’s different
about military students and the transitions
they encounter when returning to college. I
discussed student challenges and common
issues with David Caso, director of student
and academic services at CDL. I read the
entire Student Degree Planning Guide,
John Beckem
highlighted and rabbit-eared 25 different
pages, and asked CDL colleagues Dana
Henson, Diana Hawkins and Ginger Knight
for answers, guidance and clarification.
Now ready to mentor, I scheduled my
first student conference call … and the
rest is history.
That’s the point where my mentoring
career matured.
I now have over 35 mentees and my group
is growing on a weekly basis. I have several
students enrolled in my Planning and
Finalizing the Degree course. To continue
to learn more about the degree planning
process, I have been both a participant
and chair in several assessment committee
meetings. I also partnered with Carol
Carnevale as my “mentor buddy.”
I am happy to be here, sharing my thoughts
and experiences with each of you in this
publication. In my first 12 months, I have
researched, evolved and matured in my
mentoring role. In order to capture my firstyear
experiences in one place, I developed
a mentor-blog at www.escmentor.blogspot.
com. This is an interactive website where
suny empire state college • all about mentoring • issue 39 • spring 2011