Thank you for your interest in participating in the Committee on the Status of LGBTQ+ Individuals in the Economics Profession (CSQIEP) Mentorship Program. Below, you will find a description of this program, as well as links to sign up as either a mentor or a mentee.
If you have participated in this program in the past:
The CSQIEP Mentorship Match was first implemented in 2020. We are treating the current iteration as an entirely "new" round of matching. Thus, if you participated in the past, you may sign up again, in which case you may be matched with different individual(s) than you were previously.
Of course, if you have a great relationship with your current mentor/mentee, then please continue! But if you are a current mentee who would like a new mentor, or a current mentor who is able to take on a new mentee, then please sign up at the links below.
Purpose
The CSQIEP Mentorship Program seeks to match LGBTQ+ individuals in the economics profession with more senior members of the profession who have volunteered to serve as mentors. Those eligible to be mentees include current Ph.D. students (as of Fall 2024), junior faculty, and other post-docs/researchers. We are not currently accepting applications from undergraduate students, masters students, or pre-docs for mentoring, but may do so in the future.
How it works
Both mentees and mentors are required to fill out a brief questionnaire so that we can implement the best possible matching between mentees and mentors. There are separate forms for each, and they can be found in the relevant sections below.
The deadline to participate is October 15th, 2024.
Shortly after collecting this information, we will make matches. Mentees will be assigned a mentor who is a more senior member of the profession: early-career economists (junior faculty, post-docs, research economists, etc.) will be assigned a senior economist as a mentor, and Ph.D. students will be assigned a mentor who is either an early-career (junior faculty, post-doc, research economist, etc.) or a senior economist.
Our role in this process is purely facilitating matches; once matches are made, it is up to the mentee and mentor to schedule meetings at an agreed-upon frequency.
Junior faculty and other early-career economists can participate in the program as both a mentee (with a senior faculty mentor) and as a mentor (to Ph.D. students). Given the excess demand for mentoring, we are extremely grateful for those seeking mentorship who also sign up as a mentor for Ph.D. students. If you are willing to take on both roles, please fill out both of the forms below.
Mentor and Mentee Expectations
While it is up to each pair to decide when and how much to meet, we recommend about 1 hour per quarter, in addition to being available should unexpected questions or issues arise. It is expected that the onus of scheduling meetings should fall on the mentees. Please be respectful of your mentor's time. Remember, their time is valuable, and they are volunteering for this.
Topics for mentoring include a variety professional issues that may arise in the course of obtaining an economics Ph.D. or working as an early-career economist. These may include:
Professional development: finding an advisor, navigating the job market, teaching, service, preparing for tenure, etc.
Research: working on LGBTQ+ topics, applying for grants, etc.
Personal issues: whether to come out as a graduate student or faculty member, choosing a job/location, finding a community, etc.
Mentors are not expected to read/edit papers or make introductions or connections to other economists. Though they may choose to do so if they wish, the objective of this particular form of mentoring is to help LGBTQ+ graduate students, junior faculty, and post-docs navigate an often-inhospitable profession, not research advising.
More details on the requirements and expectations of both mentors and mentees can be found in the CSQIEP Mentorship Program Contract, which you must read and agree to before signing up for the program. This document can be found at the link below:
If you would like to sign up as a mentee, first read the CSQIEP Mentorship Program Contract, which provides further details on the requirements and expectations of the program. It also discusses issues of privacy and confidentiality, and provides resources should any problems or concerns arise in the course of your mentoring relationship. This document can be found at the link below.
Once you have read the contract, please fill out the Mentee Preference Questionnaire at the link below. Before submitting the questionnaire, you must confirm that you have read and agree to the CSQIEP Mentorship Program Contract.
Given the overdemand for mentoring, junior faculty and other early career economists who wish to sign up for mentoring from a senior faculty member are also encouraged to sign up as a mentor for Ph.D. students. While this is not required (its fine to sign up just as a mentee), if you are willing and able to take on this important role, please fill out both preference questionnaires.
The deadline to submit the questionnaire is October 15th, 2024.
To sign up as a mentor
If you would like to sign up as a mentor, first read the CSQIEP Mentorship Program Contract, which provides further details on the requirements and expectations of the program. It also discusses issues or privacy and confidentiality, and provides resources should any problems or concerns arise in the course of your mentoring relationship. This document can be found at the link below.
Once you have read the contract, please fill out the Mentor Preference Questionnaire at the link below. Before submitting the questionnaire, you must confirm that you have read and agree to the CSQIEP Mentorship Program Contract.
Multiple Mentees: One question on the form asks whether you would be willing to take on multiple mentees. Given the overdemand for mentoring, and undersupply of mentors (about 2:1 in the last iteration of the program), we hope that some mentors are willing to take on more than one mentee. The expected workload as a mentor is about 1 hour per quarter, per mentee. While not required to participate (we are incredibly grateful if you can mentor only one individual!), if you are able to take on multiple mentees, please indicate this when filling out the form.
The deadline to submit the questionnaire is October 15th, 2024.