FAQ

Who is eligible to participate the program?

In order to be a mentee, you need to be a full-time Stanford graduate student or post-doc. In order to be a mentor, you can either be in industry, a full-time Stanford post-doc, a faculty or staff member.

I'm a Stanford employee or young professional and I need mentoring.  Can I participate the mentorship program?    

Due to space constraints we cannot formally pair Stanford employees or other professionals as mentees at this time.  However, we welcome women in science and engineering with advanced degrees, including post-docs at other institutions, to serve as mentors in our program for more junior women.  Many mentors find the evening seminars and contacts with other mentors in the program to be extremely helpful in their own career development while sharing their own experiences with the students.  Those seeking more formal mentoring for professionals might consider MentorNet, HealthCare Businesswomen's Association, or the San Francisco AWIS mentoring program.

What if I can’t come to most of the evening seminars, can I still participate the mentorship program? 

Most certainly. Many of the pairs interact exclusively outside of the evening Stanford seminars. But we do encourage pairs come to the seminars to increase their meetup rates.

When and where should I apply? 

At the begining of every academic year, usually in October, we will host an info-session to introduce the mentorship program. The applications are open after the info-session and closed typically in late-October. The exact deadline varys from year to year. When the applications are open, you will see "Apply to be a Mentor" and "Apply to be a Mentee" tabs at the top of the website. Click on the tabs and you will be able to submit applications from there. This is the only way we accept applications. Applications sent via emails will not be considered. Late applications will not be accepted.  

When do I find out who my mentor/mentee is? 

Sign-up normally closes in late-Octorber. We start email introductions to the paris in early-November. This is not an automated process so don't panic if your neighbor gets an email before you do.

What's a mentoring circle? 

Sometimes we have a group of students and/or post-docs with similar interests and they are grouped together in a mentoring circle.  In the past these groups have met monthly on campus and have been led by a senior member(s) of the mentoring committee.  Additional mentors have been invited to attend individual meeting depending on the interests of the group.

I have the contact info for my new mentor or mentee... Now what?  

Send her an email to arrange your first meeting!  We have a meetup event for all pairs to meet in-person for the first time as a community cohort. You are highly encouraged to attend this event! After that, the pairs can decide how often and in what form they would like to meet and provide mentorship. 

How do I keep this mentoring relationship going?  We're so busy!  

In the past, we find two ways are relative easy. First, you might agree to meet for coffee or on zoom at certain time, e.g.. last Friday of every other month. Second,  instead of arranging all meetings at once, you can also set the time of your next meeting at the end of this meeting, which gives more flexibility.  

If you're coming up on a busy time, such as final week or travel, just be honest and agree to touch base when you know thing will be slower. Keep in mind that there is no “standard” for interactions.  You might mainly correspond by email, meet in person a few times during the year (AWIS seminars are a great place to connect), or weekly (maybe you both are on campus and like the same lunch spot).  It's up to the two of you.  If you find something that you both like to do (hiking, taking the kids to the playground, having coffee, etc.), it's fun to incorporate into your 1:1 meetings.

I signed up for this program, but now I’m completely swamped with work, life (etc.) and I’m not sure it’s the right thing for me right now. What should I do? 

Please let us know if this happens so that we can reassign your mentoring partner and/or remove your form(s) from our database. There is no shame in deciding that the program is not right for you. This will not in any way preclude your participation should you decide to participate in the future.  Email us at mentoring.awis@gmail.com to exit the program.

I have not been able to get ahold of my mentor/mentee. What should I do?  

If you have tried to reach out several times and have not heard back from your mentor or mentee, please contact us at mentoring.awis@gmail.com so that we can address the issue and, if needed, find you a new mentor/mentee.

I feel like I'm just getting my own career started or just started a new post-doc. I don't know if I'm ready to mentor someone!  

The mentoring committee believes that everyone has insight to share from their experiences and certainly understands the importance of a good match.  You can let us know on the application exactly what kind of person or issues you would feel comfortable mentoring.  For instance, first year post-docs are often paired with first or second year graduate students who are dealing with the challenges of quals or a new advisor... something much more fresh in a post-doc's mind than many of our professionals!  

Also, first year post-docs on our program have let us know that getting to know students has often helped them learn about the many offerings at Stanford, anything from extracurricular activities to the best places for lunch or coffee, or our awesome cactus garden.   If you are a post-doc requesting a mentor, we do expect you to give back to the program by concurrently mentoring a student.

Who sponsors this program?   

This program is sponsored by the Stanford Vice Provost for Graduate Education (VPGE). There is no fee to participate in our Stanford program and on-campus seminars. We also encourage you to sign up for the membership in the Palo Alto AWIS chapter. Membership is quite inexpensive for students and provides free admission to additional monthly off-campus PA-AWIS dinner meetings, normally $15 at the door. http://pa-awis.weebly.com/join-pa-awis.html

What is the relationship between AWIS, AWIS Palo Alto chapter, and AWIS Mentorship Program?

AWIS is a global network that works to advance women in STEM, promote organizational success, and drive systemic change. AWIS has 26 local chapters in the United States. There are 3 chapters in the broader Bay Area - AWIS Palo Alto, AWIS Sacramento, AWIS East Bay. The local chapters mostly operate on their own, but there are joint events from time to time. AWIS Mentorship Program started as a program under AWIS Palo Alto in 1991. Now it has become more independent and is funded exclusively by Stanford VPGE. This program focuses on providing Stanford female graduate students mentorship in their careers and host on-campus seminars.