3 Responsibilities

The key to success for students is to commit time and effort toward developing their future careers by taking full advantage of this unique opportunity. Mentees should supply their mentor with feedback and be open to receiving advice and coaching from the mentor.

3.1 Mentee Expectations

  • Be accountable for upholding commitment to the mentorship program
  • Determine your goals and discuss these with your mentor
  • Attend at least one activity each semester (see Chapter 4 for a calendar of events)
  • Ask for help and guidance; seek out the information needed for your career development
  • Communicate any academic concerns that you might want assistance working through
  • Accept both praise and constructive criticism
  • Determine acceptable time and format to communicate

If you wish to opt out of the mentoring program, please contact our program director.

3.2 Mentor Expectations

Mentors take a leadership role within the Mentorship program, they are meant to provide guidance and support to incoming members of the Industrial and Organizational Psychology program.1

  • Attend MSU I.O Program orientation (see Chapter 4)
  • Work with the mentee in developing an Individual Development Plan (IDP; Chapter 6)) using:
  • Stay accessible, committed, and engaged during the length of the program
  • Setting and agreeing on frequency of meeting times according to needs/wants/availability
    • In-person meet-ups
    • Over the phone “meet-ups”
    • Being accessible to mentee when help is needed, and encourage mentee to attend office hours when they need help when the mentor is not available.
  • Addressing boundaries related to academic support
    • Time frame to request and provide help such as hours and days available
    • Boundaries regarding personal information provided (cell number, personal email, etc)
    • What type of academic support is okay to request and provide
  • Inform mentees about the importance of networking and extracurricular events.
    • Encourage mentees to attend developmental events outside the program (for example, SIOP, monthly METROs, Career/job fairs, ect.). More information about this will be provided through the event calendar (Chapter 4).
    • Provide support getting to events, such as METRO and career fairs (if possible).
  • Cultivate professionalism
    • Mentor should help mentee search and prepare for internship opportunities (if needed by mentee)
    • Mentors should model professional behavior to set the example for mentees
  • If mentor has any questions or concerns that may arise, let Eagle I.O know to be able to provide support and guidance.
    • If you have any issues, please contact Eagle IO.

3.3 Eagle I.O Roles and Responsibilities

  • Ensure the mentoring program is created and sustained (see Chapter 5 for outline)
    • Focus on succession planning within the group
  • Populate the calendar of Industrial-Organizational Psychology program related events (METRO, SIOP, see Chapters 5.1 and 5.2)
  • Plan New Student Orientation procedures, events and necessary materials
  • Meet regularly to discuss progress, concerns, or setbacks regarding the mentors, mentees and the program itself
  • Utilize and update existing toolkit

  1. Mentors participate in the program willingly, but once they commit to participating in the program they need to stay on board for the remainder of the semester unless there is an emergent situation. If mentors plan on leaving the program they need to communicate this to Eagle I.O as soon as possible so that arrangements can be made for the following semester.↩