Networking and Mentoring On Campus

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Networking and Mentoring On Campus

By Carolyn A. Chow, M.A.

Networking involves making connections, establishing relationships and building a support structure for your personal, academic and professional success. As a student in any academic program, establishing a supportive network can seem daunting, but once you start making connections with faculty or colleagues, you’ll find that your network will start to grow and flourish over time.

One of the best ways that minority nursing students can establish a solid, foundational network is to find a mentor. Though the University of Washington School of Nursing has no formal networking program, there are several faculty members, staff and students who mentor on an informal basis and who have made a huge difference in the lives of their mentees. This networking lets students and junior faculty gain access to key figures in their academic community, providing rewards and benefits to everyone involved. The students receive enhanced opportunities to take full advantage of resources, whether they involve financial aid, research, special projects or professional training. Faculty and staff gain the ultimate reward of investing in the future growth and diversity of the nursing profession.

However, many students don’t take advantage of the multitudes of opportunities that networking and mentoring offer, because they find it difficult—often seemingly overwhelming—to know where to start, especially if they’re at a large university. I would offer them this advice: In addition to using faculty as resources, remember also to network with staff people who have direct access to programs or people in other departments or organizations.

For example, as the coordinator of recruitment and admissions for the UW School of Nursing, I am connected to several resources that can help students access an even larger network of contacts. I am part of the Academic Programs Office at the School of Nursing and our entire office is devoted to student services. I also connect students with resources outside of the School of Nursing, such as the community organizations Washington State Association of Black Professionals in Health Care, The Latino-Chicano Mentoring Network or Centro de la Raza.

There are also the University of Washington’s Undergraduate and Graduate Offices of Minority Affairs, Joint Recruitment Committee, BRIDGES4 (Biomedical Research Identification of Graduate Education Student Successful Support Services) or student-run organizations. The African Student Organization, Chinese Student Association, Filipino-American Student Association and First Nations at UW all make it easier for our students to link up with potential mentors and other contacts.

Where to Start

An excellent way to start looking for a mentor is to think of faculty members who are involved in research, community projects or clinical practice that is of interest to you and related to your goals. A simple phone call, office visit or even an e-mail can be the start of a fruitful relationship. Faculty, staff and other students who mentor successfully often look for a mentee who shares their professional interests. That way, the mentor can help guide the student in the appropriate direction, while the student helps to further the mentor’s interests. In other words, use the mentor as a springboard.

You should expect to meet with more than one person before you find the right match, but once you find someone with whom you’re comfortable, take your mentor’s advice and run with it! A good mentor will also be able to provide you with information on how to cultivate your other professional relationships.

Once you’ve made contact with your student services office and faculty, build a dialogue so that you can all work together in a team approach. Sometimes, for example, professional organizations such as the National Black Nurses Association or the Oncology Nursing Society select a particular contact at your school to facilitate scholarship applications. By having a solid resource team in place, you expand your chances of hearing about these connections. Take advantage of these opportunities. Don’t wait for them to come to you.

When you’ve established your mentoring relationship or targeted your set of initial contacts, be sure to follow up. Often faculty members have competing deadlines and lots of responsibilities. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t get an immediate reply. Persistence pays off. One caution: Don’t make a pest of yourself. Come up with a strategy for how you see your education, future and professional goals and make a specific action plan. That way, when you talk with faculty, you can orient them to your goals and they can offer suggestions and guidance, and in some cases even play an active role in helping you achieve your plans.

Success Stories

A great example of mentoring at the UW School of Nursing has been the work of Mary Lou de Leon Siantz, Ph.D. This year’s president-elect of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses, Mary Lou offers immediate connections through her leadership to a national network of Hispanic nurses, academics and professionals. In addition, she has spearheaded outreach efforts toward local Hispanics by encouraging them to organize a local chapter of NAHN. These nurses now not only have an affiliation that provides them with professional and personal benefits, they’ve also formed a local support system. By staying connected, Mary Lou helps ensure that the School of Nursing and the University of Washington’s resources are accessible to an important community of minority health professionals.

Another example of Mary Lou’s mentoring of current School of Nursing students is Sergio Olivares, a student in our Ph.D. program. When he was beginning a research project, Mary Lou encouraged him to contact a friend of hers who worked for the federal government. Sergio was able to build an immediate rapport with the contact by telling him he was a student of Mary Lou’s. “Initially, I was hesitant to make contact,” Sergio states, “but Mary Lou already had an established relationship with him and that made the phone call a lot easier! Mentors who are personally and professionally established have a bigger network and you can tap into that network through them.”

Frances Munet-Vilaro, Ph.D., has mentored students on a more subtle level. She says, “As an English as a Second Language [learner] myself, I know that it takes time for me to actively participate in a discussion. That means that I pay more attention to the needs of ESL students so that they feel they are contributing to the discussion in a way that will not make them feel embarrassed or intimidated, while ensuring that their voices are being heard. Basically, by putting myself out there as an example, I am trying to tell the ESL students that I am aware and that I am there to facilitate their participation in a way that feels appropriate to them.”

Outside of the classroom, June Strickland, Ph.D., established a mentoring connection with a student whom she had never taught in class but was able to help. “A young Seneca nursing student came to my office,” June explains. “She was discouraged and had experienced a number of situations in her rotations in which she had felt discrimination. I listened and watched. When she needed help, she needed a Native American faculty person who could communicate with her and give her what she needed in the Indian way. I was glad to be able to be there for her. We still keep in contact.”

Whatever academic institution you attend, take advantage of all the resources the school, staff and faculty have to offer you. You will find that there is a wealth of programs and individuals that can help you establish a solid network of connections to help you shape and build your nursing career.

Carolyn A. Chow, M.A., is the coordinator of recruitment and admissions at the University of Washington School of Nursing in Seattle.