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Marketing professor Riley Dugan (left) meets with University of Dayton student Camille Walch (right) during a micro-mentoring session to discuss the possibility of Walch adding a sales minor. Dugan reviewed Walch’s résumé, gave her feedback and connected her to various companies she could intern with this upcoming summer.
University of Dayton
A May 2024 Student Voice survey by Course Strat and Generation Lab found 55 percent of students believe professors are at least partly responsible for being a mentor. But identifying and connecting with faculty mentors can be a challenge for many students, particularly those from historically underserved communities.
At the University of Dayton’s School of Business Administration, campus leaders have established a just-in-time mentorship program for students who are considering career questions. Now, if learners need support beyond what their academic advisers can provide, they’re referred to a micro-mentor who can provide discipline- or major-specific insights.
“Students may not have met a professor with the right connections or expertise,” says Marsha Keune, senior associate dean at the School of Business Administration. “This program provides a formal way for students to engage with faculty who have industry-specific expertise.”
Micro-mentorship officially launched in fall 2024 and is available to any student in the business school.
How it works: As opposed to traditional, formal mentoring relationships, which are often long-term and focus on broad skill and career development, micro-mentoring is just in time and on demand, relating to students’ changing needs, Keune says: “When a student has a specific question, they’re matched with a faculty micro-mentor with relevant expertise.”
An incoming student may be interested in majoring in marketing but later consider finance as a career field. Through micro-mentors, students can connect with faculty who are experts in whatever field they need support in.
All departments in the School of Business Administration participate, with each of the school’s 10 majors offering at least two faculty micro-mentors to meet with students, for a total of 19 mentors, Keune says. Faculty participate in a training at the beginning of the academic year to prep them for micro-mentoring.
“The faculty micro-mentors represent different areas of expertise within each major and have expressed a willingness to help students with certain types of questions such as identifying major electives to support a specialized career path, evaluating different internship opportunities, understanding career possibilities after graduation and applying to graduate school,” Keune says.
Mentors were also recruited to represent career expertise across a major. For instance, accounting faculty micro-mentors have professional experience in tax, audit, industry, internal audit and law, Keune says.
What’s different: Often, faculty are already having these types of conversations with learners. The barrier is connecting students and professors who might not otherwise have a relationship via class or extracurricular activities.
A student’s academic adviser matches the learner with a professor as a one-time connection. If the learner needs additional support later, they may receive a referral to the same instructor or speak with a different faculty mentor, as needed.
Having an initial conversation with their academic adviser can provide background for the learner to understand their responsibilities and expectations for the process, a common hurdle for students who do not have a mentor, according to previous Student Voice surveys.
The adviser provides a “warm hand-off” via the university’s EAB Starfish platform, a process that has over all worked well and seems to be supportive, Keune says.
The impact: Anecdotal feedback from students has shown that learners walk away with newfound confidence after talking to their micro-mentors, particularly around navigating internship recruiting, elective planning for career goals, understanding career opportunities and determining if they will pursue graduate education, Keune says.
One student, Claire Monahan, was considering switching her major from economics to accounting and finance, so she met with professors from both fields. “I was able to hear about what it takes to succeed in each major and the different careers and jobs I could do with the majors,” Monahan says.
After the meetings, Monahan decided to change her major and has established a formal mentoring relationship with accounting chair Tim Keune to continue to guide her on her journey.
What’s next: After a year of the program, Dayton leaders plan to survey advisers, faculty micro-mentors and participating students to understand their experiences, celebrate successes and identify areas for improvement, Marsha Keune says.
“At this point, the School of Business Administration has implemented the program at scale; it is accessible to all students,” Marsha Keune shares. “We expect popularity and demand for the program to increase as we continue to see positive feedback from the micro-mentoring sessions.”
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