We have learned that mentors serve as a unique bridge between faculty and students. Mentors hear honest reflections from students about their experience at the university, in the class and in their personal lives. Faculty in the first years were shocked by the information that their students shared with mentors about their lives, things they did not often hear about in other types of general education courses. Knowing what a student is dealing with empowers both faculty and mentor to aid in helping the student, thus aiding in student academic progress. Mentors timely, but diplomatic feedback has enabled faculty to adjust their teaching to better meet students needs.
Mentors also serve as a bridge to faculty by encouraging and modeling discussion with faculty.
Students new to academia are often intimidated by faculty and have difficulty engaging the faculty-student interactions that are so important to student success. Mentors often walk that fine line between providing for the baby bird and nudging them out of the nest. Students often describe finding a first friend at PSU in their mentor and making connections with fellow students in their Freshman Inquiry mentor sessions. While this area has not been studied systematically, there is evidence that mentors have had a significant impact on faculty development. Often for the first time, faculty have someone they can muse with about why a certain student seems to respond adversely to certain content and why that lecture didn t quite captivate their audience in the way they had planned.