Mentorship Program

Mentoring is a way to provide students with opportunities for enhancing classroom learning by contributing new perspectives on business topics, career paths, personal concerns and professional experiences. The Mentorship Program at Otterbein allows MBA students to utilize this personal relationship with a business executive as a source of valuable information and to establish or build on current networks of contacts in their industry or area of interest. Mentors have the opportunity to gain exposure to new ideas and thought-provoking questions, to receive company recognition, and to experience personal satisfaction from advising a graduate student.

Mentor's Responsibilities
The primary responsibility of a mentor is to be accessible for consultation with the paired mentee. Mentors place their knowledge and experience at the disposal of their mentee and it is up to the student to take full advantage of this excellent resource. The degree to which this informal relationship is carried out is decided between the mentor and mentee; however, as in most endeavors, the more you put into the program, the more you will get out of it. The following are some examples of mentoring activities:

• meet once a month for lunch
• host mentee for an on-site company visit
• invite mentee to a professional event
• keep in contact through e-mail and phone conversations
• attend Otterbein MBA sponsored events

MBA Students as Mentors
Otterbein MBA students will also have the opportunity to reverse roles in the Mentorship Program. Graduate students will be paired up with undergraduate students at Otterbein to also act as mentors. This program offers the chance to further communication and leadership skill for Otterbein students through asking and answering questions about class schedules, career choices, and job experiences. Learning how to be a mentor leads to learning how to be a leader.

Mentoring Program Results
Students involved in mentorship programs often call it one of their most valuable experiences while at school. A study from the College Student Journal found 83% of former mentees surveyed felt their mentors were a very important part of their graduate education and 81% said they would be willing to be mentors in the future.

Many companies have also implemented their own in-house mentoring programs to help orient new employees. A trusted relationship with a senior executive of proven leadership is likely to keep a young manager open to new ideas and stretching for growth, knowing that there is someone there for support. Examples of the companies that are delving into the resource of mentors are BP, Midland Bank, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Bank of America. These companies find that mentoring reduces organizational conflict, improves productivity, and lowers turnover by building loyalty to the company.

A recent study of the effectiveness of a mentoring program at a large urban university was found in Research in Higher Education. These results showed that the mentored students had higher GPAs, more units completed per semester, and a lower dropout rate.

Contact
Otterbein College has the great fortune of a large pool of business professionals in many well-respected and influential positions across all business sectors and all organizational sizes. This is of great importance in the program's efforts to match mentors with mentees.

To get involved in Otterbein's MBA Mentorship Program, please contact MBA@otterbein.edu.