©Micheal Paulbeck

Mentoring Program

During the 2008 Annual Meeting, Jim Berdeen, Mark Hanson, and Stacy Salvevold kicked off the student mentorship project. This project hopes to connect undergraduate and graduate students with a career professional in the wildlife field.

Students
Students willing to commit to a mentoring relationship are encouraged to contact a mentoring advisor at their institution. This could be the student chapter advisor, their academic advisor, or an identified TWS mentoring advisor. Come prepared with your interests and possible fields of study. Ultimately, the mentoring advisor will meet with you and then recomend 2-5 potential mentors for you to contact. Be sure to discuss your career interest with your advisor before selecting a potential professional mentor.

Student will then contact a potential mentor and jointly define and develop specific strategy. Determine what each of you wants to get out of your relationship. Write it down and stick to the plan -- it should be somewhat binding!

Student completing a mentoring relationship are asked to complete an evaluation or “exit interview” to help the program grow. Was mentoring helpful? What specific recommendations would help the program?

Potential Mentors
Potential Mentors are encouraged to express their interest to the Mentoring Committee: Mark Hanson, Jim Berdeen, or Stacy Salvevold. We will add you to the list that the TWS Mentoring Advisors consult when matching students and mentors.

Contact Information: Jim Berdeen, 218-308-2280; Mark Hanson, 218-308-2283; and Stacy Salvevold, 320-589-4963, stuccie_wlf@yahoo.com

Faculty Advisors
Generally faculty contacts will be the advisors to the student chapter; however, any faculty member can serve as a TWS Mentoring Advisor, especially at institutions without student chapters. Please contact the Mentoring Committee (above) to express interest.