MWI Mentorship Program
The MWI Mentorship Program is designed for early to mid-career students, particularly those who are the first in their families to attend college and international students, to explore issues women face in their careers and to engage with a mentor outside their usual networks. Mentors are drawn from the community of executive women leaders across the Puget Sound community.
Program Goals
The MWI Mentoring Program's goal is to provide an opportunity for early/mid-career students to partner with a mid-career/senior female professional in the Puget Sound community to share experience, wisdom and enhance their future careers. Milgard graduate students in the following programs are eligible to participate as a mentee:
- MBA (Masters of Business Administration)
- MCL (Master of Cybersecurity and Leadership)
- MSAcc (Master of Science in Accounting)
- MSBA (Masters of Science and Business Analytics)
The majority of the students in the program are mid-career professionals with at least 6-8 years of work experience, and most are working while they complete their graduate degree.
Program Structure
The MWI Mentorship program provides intentional pairing of mentors and mentees based on skills, background, and experiences. The program also provides:
- Quarterly structured sessions on select topics with other mentors and mentees in a group setting, allowing both mentors and mentees to expand their networks and their knowledge.
- During monthly 1:1 mentoring sessions, participants explore issues pertinent to women in the workplace. The montly 1:1 meetings are scheduled by the mentor and mentee.
Women who serve as executives and leaders (retired or currently working) have so much wisdom to share with the next generation of professional women. For mentors, this is also a great opportunity to learn about the next generation of leaders and professionals
2022-2023 Registration is CLOSED
Our Mentor & Mentee registration for the 2022-2023 academic year is now closed.
Applicants will be informed of decisions and pairing in early November
- 2022-2023 Opening Ceremony: November 17, 2022
- See the 2022-23 schedule for additional dates and times
If you are interested in registering to be a mentor for the 2023-2024 academic year, please feel free to fill out the mentor registration form below and we will stay in contact!
For questions, contact clsr@uw.edu
"The program boosted my confidence and made me realize my potential. I learned to own up my background as my Unique Selling Point (USP) rather than feel overwhelmed by the talent all around."
2021-2022 Mentee
“Having a mentor that I could talk to about work, family, career, and my future has been great. I loved that my mentor was so supportive and has even been helping me connect with people for job opportunities.”
2021-2022 Mentee
“It was a great experience and privilege to be a part of this fantastic program. As a mentor, found it was so enjoyable, educational, and inspiring. My mentee is a wonderful, intelligent great new friend. [The staff provided] fantastic articles and resources, and did a great job with identifying great topics!”
2020-2021 Mentor
Did you ever find yourself wishing you had a “safe” person to talk to? Ask advice? Talk through a situation? This is your chance to be that person! Mentors are an important part of personal and professional development. They are guides through times when people need someone that can point them in the right direction.
Mentors are an important part of personal and professional development. They are guides through times when people need someone who can point them in the right direction. Great mentors are enthusiastic people, enjoying the role they play in helping others achieve their goals.
There are many qualities of a great mentor. Please see a few important qualities below!
- Enthusiastic and sincere. You have the sincere desire to help and are passionate to help others. The reward comes in seeing the people you have helped grow and change.
- Open and flexible. You will help those in need to develop strategies that fit the person’s need, talent, skills and desire, and push the person towards growth.
- Values learning. You are a life-long learner and want to pass that desire on to everyone you come in contact with. It is ok to not know everything, no one does. You have the willingness to search and seek out answers. You want to learn from your mentee in this mutual learning journey.
- Smart about pushing boundaries. You are capable of identifying comfort zones and encourage the mentee to step out of his/her comfort zone to have new experiences and reflect on learning.
- Savvy about providing feedback. You are skilled at creating long-term relationships, having ongoing dialogues to identify opportunities for improvement for your mentee, and proposing actions to be more successful.
- Treat others with respect. You are tactful in your conversation and emotionally intelligent. You are not judgmental of others, you feel empathy to those they are dealing with emotions or challenges during the different phases of their lives.
Do these qualities describe you? Are you excited to grow and develop while helping a student do the same? If so, please contact us at clsr@uw.edu to start the conversation. We’d love to talk to you.
