Mentor Program
2006-2007

Policies and Procedures

Mentor Program Goals

1.     Students will demonstrate intellectual development through growth in the following areas:

a.  Ability to use goal-setting techniques and self-motivation

                   b.  Appreciation of diverse cultural and intellectual viewpoints

                   c.  Understanding of their own learning style and personality type

2.     Students will demonstrate social development through growth in the following areas:

a.  Emotional intelligence

b.  Employing interdependence

c.  Forging connections with classmates, the University, and the community

3.     Students will demonstrate spiritual development through growth in the following areas:

a.  Self-awareness

b.  Personal responsibility

c.  Self-management

d.  Ethical reasoning

4.     Students will be able to identify support networks within the University for assistance with career and academic planning, tutoring, and counseling

In addition to providing instruction on student success issues and ethical decision-making, each mentor will

o       design a program for their section of at least five outside class group activities centered around social activities, cultural events and community service.

o       assist students with paperwork involving declaration of majors and adoption of eight-semester plans

o       provide pre-registration assistance for all students in the group as needed

o       engage their students in career development activities through the Career Development Office

Syllabus

A common syllabus is to be used by all mentors, which spells out those activities, content and policies all sections share.  Mentors should free to adapt and expand this basic framework to suite their own approaches and student needs.  A copy of this syllabus is given in section 2 of the printed handbook and is available in electronic form at the course web site under Critical Inquiry Common Syllabus and on the Q drive under “Mentor Program/.”

If you are planning to use student journals as a graded activity in your class, make sure you post the legal disclaimer given on p. 17, as suggested by the University’s attorney.

Textbook

All faculty this year will be using Skip Downing’s On Course (Houghton-Mifflin, 2005) for their main textbook.   Supporting materials for this curriculum are available at the publisher’s On Course website:  http://college.hmco.com/collegesurvival/downing/on_course/4e/students/index.html

The stated goals of the textbook line up with our course goals.  Students will learn to:

·        accept personal responsibility

·        discover self-motivation

·        master self-management

·        employ interdependence

·        gain self-awareness

·        adopt life-long learning

·        develop emotional intelligence

·        believe in themselves

 Supplementary Resources

Additional instructor resources used in past years are still available at the course web site; materials include time management exercises, nutritional analysis activities, a handout on teaching ethical theory, and a collection of case studies for use in class:  http://departments.ozarks.edu/mentors/ResourcesPage.htm  

Activities Requirements and Grading

Critical Inquiry is graded using standard letter grades like most other university courses.  CI, however, differs in its structure and requirements from most courses, particularly in its out-of-class requirements and affective objectives.  Whatever grading model you use, please ensure that participation in group activities is an important part of the grade.  You can opt to assign points for each completed activity or deduct from the final grade for missed activities or any other method that you believe will be effective in ensuring that the students participate seriously in the activities component of the course.  Suggestions for activities can be found at the course web site:

The activities requirement remains the same as in previous years: 

Five (5) outside-of-class group activities are required for each student

o       one must be a social activity

o       one must be a cultural event

• one must be a community service. 

New Student Dinners

The New Student Dinners this year are scheduled as follows from 5:30 to 7:00 at the President’s house.  Mentors should give a count to Student Life by noon of the day before his/her section’s dinner.

Budget

The section budgets remain the same as in 2005-2006.  Each group has a budget of $800 from which to draw for expenses. 

Mentors should turn in purchase orders/reimbursement paperwork directly to Carolyn in the Academic Office.  You do not need the signature of your Division Chair.  Do not, however, bring your receipts to Karen in the Business Office without first making sure Carolyn has copies of the paperwork; she needs this information in order to keep track of individual group budgeting.  Be sure to indicate on the reimbursement form the amount that is to be charged to your budget.

It is very important that each mentor stay within his/her section budget; we have no room this year for overruns.  Try to take advantage of activities that are free or inexpensive. You can, for example, schedule a movie outing on a weekend when Student Life has arranged with the local cinema to provide free tickets for UofO students.  If hiking, the Cafeteria can provide box lunches with a week's notice, so that the only expense would be van mileage.  Home-cooked meals cost less than taking students out to a restaurant.  Try to be creative.  Until the economy improves, we will have to make do with smaller-than-ideal budgets.

Van Reservations

There are five University vans available for use in transporting groups to activities off-campus; one of these is appropriate for local trips only.  The vans seat 12-15 people.  Reservations should be made as far in advance as possible with Carolyn in the Academic Office.  Your mentor budget will be charged 12 cents a mile for use of the van. There are times when all vans might be in use because of athletic road trips but, if arrangements are made well in advance, usually extra vans can be rented and the rental cost distributed among all groups using vans that day.    If you need to buy gas for the van, you can fill up at the Texaco station at South Park, where the University has an account.  If you have to pay for fuel out-of-pocket, make sure you get a receipt to turn in for reimbursement.

Under most circumstances, faculty mentors are expected to do the driving of these vans.  Because of past problems with student drivers, the University’s insurance carrier has strongly urged that students NOT be allowed to drive University vehicles, even for local trips.  The numbers for mentor sections this year are lower than anticipated so, in most cases, you will not need a second van/second driver.  If your overflow is small, consider driving one van and having one student-owned car trail the van.  If you absolutely need a second van for a CI activity, some exceptions can be made but only those 21 years of age and over with good driving records (as confirmed by the Business Office) can drive University vehicles.  If one of your peer mentors meets these conditions, send them to the Business Office for a driving record check.  If your peer mentors do not meet these conditions and you need a driver for a second van, check with Student Life for a work-study student who meets these conditions.

Problem Students

If you determine (or suspect) that one of your students has personal/social problems that go beyond your expertise, especially those that may require professional intervention (e.g., depression, suicidal tendencies, substance abuse), there are two options.  If it is an emergency situation—i.e. you suspect that the student might be suicidal and/or a danger to others—contact Joe Hoing’s office immediately and follow up with notification to the Academic Office.  Joe’s office extension is 1321; if he is not there, Glenda can find him for you.    You could also contact the student’s RA.

If you have a good relationship with the student and are able to convince them to seek counseling, it is best to make an appointment for them with Joe from your office while they are present.  Students suffering depression will often be more willing to talk to Joe and allow him to arrange psychological counseling if you offer to accompany them to the meeting with Joe.

Students having academic problems can be referred to Student Support for tutoring.   

You can use your peer mentors to help keep tabs on problem students but make it clear where their responsibilities end; they are not responsible for solving a student’s problems and should refer all serious situations immediately to Student Life.

Diversity Issues

International students bring with them special adjustment problems and are often tempted to resort to cliquish behavior, clinging to other international students rather than mingling well with the general student population.  We can help with the process in a number of ways:  1) encourage the international students in your groups to participate fully in classroom activities even when they are reticent for reasons of language or culture; 2) insist that they use English in the classroom and stress the need to use English when in environments where both English and Spanish speakers are present; 3) avoid having international students in the same group when assigning group projects.

New Student Advising

All faculty mentors act as academic advisors for all the students in their sections who have not officially declared a major.  How­ever, students should be encouraged to make contact with a faculty member in their expected or possible major at some point during the first term.  You might consider making a formal assignment of it, asking the student to make an appointment with a potential advisor in his/her field and report back on the advice received.

All CI faculty should be aware that there are new state-mandated eight-semester plans for all majors now in place and we will have increased responsibility for making sure new students are aware of these plans and sign off on the proper paperwork..  All mentors must work with the students in their section to file all necessary paperwork by the end of the first week of classes.  The plans are reproduced in section 2 of this handbook and are posted on the University web site:  http://www.ozarks.edu/staff/academics/eightsemesterplans.asp  

Learning Center Students

There are Learning Center students in every section.  Should you need assistance in dealing with a student’s specific disability or wish to discuss ways to improve the student’s performance, please feel free to contact the student’s Learning Coordinator.  At the time of this printing, the new students had not yet been assigned Coordinators; as that information becomes available, it will be posted at the Mentor web site.

Faculty Mentor Meetings

Below are tentative dates for two meetings during the Fall term; we’ll discuss the dates at the workshop and move to other times if someone can propose something better.  In the meantime, mark these on your calendar.

Thursday, September 28 at 11:00 a.m.

Thursday, December 7 at 11:00 a.m.

Peer Mentors

Please check to make sure your peer mentors are on the list and properly registered for IND 3013 if they wish to receive course credit.

Peer mentors this year are being trained along with SFB and Orientation leaders Aug. 13-16; you will have one-on-one time with your own peer mentors during the workshop on Wednesday afternoon from 2-4 p.m.

A common syllabus for peer mentors is available in section 2 of this Handbook and at the Mentor program web site: http://department.ozarks.edu/mentors/syllabus_for_peer_mentors.htm. 

Final Exam Time for Critical Inquiry

The exam time for all Critical Inquiry classes is Monday, December 11, 2006 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.  It is, of course, not necessary to give an actual exam but the classes are required to meet.  Mentors in the past have often used part of the exam period for a final social activity and/or to fill out the end-of-term course evaluations; you might want to use the exam time for this purpose.  The complete schedule of all exams can be found in section 2 of this Handbook as well as on the Schedules Page of the web site, along with the official list of Important Dates issued by the Academic Office.

Course Evaluation Forms

There will no longer be a separate course evaluation form for Critical Inquiry as in years past; we will use the same standard form used for other academic courses at the University.

Mentor Distribution List

A Mentors distribution list is available in the global address book of the U-of-O e-mail system under “mentor.”  You can use this list to communicate with all CI faculty on issues of common concern.

New Student Assignment Process

In the final section of this Handbook is a roster and a packet of information on each student in your CI section:

·        Student profile sheet

o       status

o       special class (JLC, Walton, Conditional Admit, athlete, etc.)

o       scholarships awarded (along with requirements for retention)

o       race/gender/nationality

o       projected major

o       h.s. gpa, ACT/SAT scores and other relevant academic information

o       info. gathered at pre-registration on hobbies and recreational activities, academic interests/favorite h.s. subjects/career plans, concerns, special circumstances, and personality

·        Copy of Fall, 2006 class schedule

Copies of the questionnaires used to interview students before pre-registration distributed are also available if you want them; some of this information has been incorporated into the profile sheets but these sheets still need tweaking.  Hopefully, next year all the questionnaire information will be transferred. 

The main goal of the distribution process was to try to match students as closely as possible with a mentor to whom they can connect at some level.  No attempt, therefore, was made to balance sections in terms of majors, males/females or athletes unless the mentor specifically requested this in the mentor profile submitted in the spring.  The only exceptions were:

• Internationals/Waltons:  There are generally 2 Waltons or Internationals in each group. 
• Most commuters were assigned to Buddy Smith’s section.
• Most sections have 2 JLC students (three sections have three); no one has more than one conditional admit
• All sections have at least one Presidential or Hurie scholar.

Please remember that there may still be some minor changes/additions made as last-minute registrations are processed.  Rosters will be updated daily on the Mentor page web site.  When a new student is added to your group, you will receive e-mail notification and may be asked to collect the student’s file from Admissions and pre-register him/her if this has not already been done. 

Assessment Activities for 2006-2007

In addition to end-of-term course evaluations, all sections will undertake two general education assessment activities as described below.

Self-Assessment Surveys from On Course Textbook

As we did last year, all students will be asked to take the self-assessment survey from the On Course textbook at the beginning of the course and again at the end as a post-test. This can be taken by photocopying the survey from the book and filling it is or taking the survey at the course web site.  The data from these surveys should be recorded by the mentor in the tabled provided (see page 13 of this Handbook) and submitted at the end of the term to the Mentor Program Coordinator.

Moral Reasoning Case Study

All students will write about a case study on academic integrity in a short reflective essay that evaluates the student’s understanding of academic integrity and personal responsibility.  The case study agreed on for this year is available on page 13 of the printed handbook, on the 2006-2007 Mentor Assessment Page and on the Q drive under "mentors/Assessment Activities/LovelitCaseStudy."  The rubric for evaluating the responses is also found on the assessment page.  The case study will be used as a pre-test and post-test and will be evaluated externally.  CI instructors are responsible for collecting the student responses and submitting them to the Mentor Program Coordinator at the end of the term.  Please make sure to mark the responses clearly as pre-test or post-test.   Identifying marks—names, e.g.—should be removed from all responses before submission.  Please do the pre-test early in the term—in the first week, if possible—in order to provide a valid picture of the students’ skills coming into college.

For more details on 2006-2007 Assessment activities, go to the
2006-2007 Mentor Program Assessment page.

Back to the TOP
Back to Mentor Program Home Page