As mentors, they serve as coaches, teachers, career advisers, role models and supervisors to career staff who are eager to expand their skills. The Staff Internship Program, started in 1989, allows staff employees to take up to a year away from their permanent jobs to work in paid, mentored internships. Recently the program was awarded permanent funding, affirming the university's commitment to career development for staff, even in hard financial times, said Val Weller, program manager. The program has been highly successful in preparing a diverse, talented group of employees for the challenges of future leadership roles at the university. Our goal is to broaden the experience and skills of high potential employees who want to jump-start their careers.
Mentors contribute to interns' professional growth while accomplishing critical work for the campus.
Sam had the opportunity to review the Postdoc-toral and Visiting Scholar Program and to develop a plan to create consistency in its policies and services. He conducted in-depth interviews with enough faculty and staff administrators to understand the complexity of the problem and then develop a generally acceptable solution. He broadened his awareness of how this campus and sister campuses deal with this issue and developed his interview, analysis and writing skills. Student Affairs Officer Rehling mentored Mei Griebenow from engineering and Gloria Frank from the Visitor Information Center, teaching them how to advise freshmen majoring in chemistry and chemical engineering. I appreciated the opportunity to work with talented, motivated interns who contributed so much to the college.