If you are an undergraduate interested in signing up for the mentorship program, please fill in the form:
If you are a graduate student, postdoc or faculty member interested in being involved, please use the following link to sign up to the mailing list:
FGLI stands for First-Generation and/or Low-Income. MSU defines a first-generation college student as someone whose parents did not complete a 4-year degree. Low-income means any student from a low-income background. Having said that, there are many reasons a student could have a similar experience to those in the above categories without either definition technically applying. Therefore, for our purposes, "FGLI" includes any student who feels that this may be the case for them.
We are launching a program to help FGLI students who are either enrolled in or considering a major or minor in mathematics to find suitable mentors. We aim to match each undergraduate mentee with one graduate student and one faculty member, who they can meet with regularly to discuss their progress, goals and difficulties. If you think this would be useful to you, please sign up using the link above, the only requirement is that you should be interested or enrolled in a major or minor in math. We will also be holding dinner events where we can meet one another more widely. The first dinner of the semester will be timed to enable you to meet potential mentors prior to matches being made. Please check this page, or sign up using the links above, for updates.
Finding mentors who understand their experience is particularly difficult for FGLI students because these identities are not often visible, which makes identifying appropriate mentors more challenging. Doing so is particularly important since FGLI students often start off with less access to such support than their peers may have. Our program is intended to offer a simple way to overcome this, and help our FGLI students begin a successful careen in mathematics, whether inside or outside of academia.
I am Joe Waldron (assistant professor), and our other organizers are Rajesh Kulkarni (professor) and Luke Seaton (graduate student). I would also like to acknowledge the valuable contributions of former organizer Matt Lorentz (postdoc) who is no longer at MSU.
I am a first-generation college student myself, and I well know the challenges this presents. I was born in a small town in the east of England, and claiming that I intended to study math at Cambridge seemed almost like saying that I planned to go to the moon. Nevertheless, I was able to succeed in part due to the excellent mentorship environment at Queens' College, Cambridge, during my undergraduate and PhD studies (with special thanks to Prof. Julia Gog OBE). Having experienced all of this, I am committed to ensuring that our FGLI math students at MSU have all the resources that you need to succeed and achieve your goals.
For more information on the other organizers, please see their pages.