• What is E-Mentoring All About?
• E-Mentoring Objectives
• How E-Mentoring Works
• How to Participate
• How You Can Help with Recruitment of Professional Mentors
• E-Mentoring History
• Acknowledgements
• Contact Information

The E-Mentoring Program creates mentoring groups consisting of undergraduate Northeastern University students, professional engineers, and high school students. High school participants will realize the importance of a secondary education to a successful career. College students will become more aware of the issues they may encounter in the working world. Each group will have around 6 participants from the groups listed below:

1. Women in their first year of college
2. Upper-class University women
3. Working professional women
4. High school girls

The E-mentoring experience links participants to different age groups. For example, while the undergraduate student will mentor a pre-college student, she will, in turn, be mentored by a working professional. The professional will have the opportunity to mentor all of the students. The high school student will benefit from observing college "almost" first-hand and learning more about how to prepare for the working world.

• To encourage the growth of long-term multi-generational relationships and friendships.
• To give younger participants a glimpse of their own future and provide them with informal advice and guidance.
• To provide on-going interaction over the Internet.
• To increase the awareness which younger participants have about technical career options.
• To provide Northeastern students the opportunity to give back to the community by mentoring students in the Boston Public Schools.
• To increase connections among Northeastern University college women and provide a pipeline for guidance.
  

The groups are designed to allow the participants to develop long-term relationships. For example, one group may have a student in the 9th grade, one in her freshman year in college, two upper-class university students, and a working woman. At the end of four years, the 9th grader will be graduating from high school and be ready to begin a college education, and the college freshman will graduate from Northeastern University's five-year college and cooperative education program and be set to embark on her career.

Once a week, each member of the group should send an e-mail to the other group members using the group e-mail address. This weekly email can be short and should include: (1) a few activities from the past week, (2) answers to any questions that were received during the previous week, and (3) one question addressed to each of the group members. The question can be as simple as: "You had a test last week, how was it?"

At the beginning of each week, a Weekly Discussion Question will be emailed to all groups. E-Mentoring participants should discuss the question within their group, and continue whatever conversations arise from that discussion.

Connections will sponsor an E-Mentoring Social Event at least once a quarter, and this will provide the opportunity for everyone to meet their fellow group-members face to face. Plus, it's usually an opportunity to eat good food!

• Students who join the Connections E-Mentoring program are automatic participants of the Connections program. You can register by sending an e-mail to E-Mentor Central.
• Women who work in science, math, engineering, and technology are encouraged to become mentors. Begin the registration process by using our on-line form.
• We request a one academic year commitment of weekly e-mail to the group.
  

Professionals can greatly help us with the recruitment process by referring colleagues to our web site. You can also e-mail E-Mentor Central with contact information for employers, associations, societies, and colleagues.

E-Mentoring was first introduced at Northeastern University on a small scale in 1996. Due to its popularity, the program has grown to serve the entire University (namely students studying science, math, engineering, and technology. Each year, a set of mentoring groups consisting of high school girls, undergraduate students, and working professionals will be added either to existing groups or to new groups.

E-Mentoring is part of the Connections program, which was supported by the Program for Gender Equity in the Human Resources Division of the National Science Foundation (NSF Grant #HRD-9813896). The program is incorporated within the Connections Program in the College of Engineering. Rachelle Reisberg is the Associate Director of the Connections Program. The Hewlett Packard Diversity Intensification Initiative has provided the seed money used for the initial development of the E-Mentoring program.

Previously, E-Mentoring was supported by Dr. Paula G. Leventman, Director of the Women in Engineering Program at Northeastern. Graduate students who have supported the E-Mentoring program are Melinda Cross (MSIS, '99), Juliana Yu (MSIS, '99), Susan King (MSIS, '99), Kim Byrnes (MSIS, '01), Kim Belli (MSCE '02), Susie Siden (MSCE '01), and Dawn Dzekevich (MSCE '01). E-Mentoring was created by Professor Sara Wadia-Fascetti (Civil and Environmental Engineering).

For information about the E-Mentoring Program you can contact E-Mentor Central:

Web-based form: Mail to E-Mentor Central
E-mail: ementor@connections.coe.neu.edu
Web Page: http://connections.coe.neu.edu/ementor

E-mail: connections@connections.coe.neu.edu
Web Page: http://connections.coe.neu.edu
Phone: (617) 373-3056