The Mentor Program is the manifestation of a dream by several people, particularly Dean William J. O’Neill, Jr. of the Sawyer Business School, Johanna Beers, former Assistant Director of Public Management Department, and Rick Gregg, long-standing faculty member in Public Management and Healthcare Administration. We have just completed the first academic year of our Mentor Program, and we are getting ready for our second year.

The Program links our healthcare graduate students with Suffolk University alumni and friends who are professionals in the healthcare field. Each student used his or her mentor as a sounding board and source of information and guidance during the early part of graduate school. Mentors and students were linked according to areas of shared interest and expertise, so that, for example, a student who is particularly interested in hospital administration was matched with a mentor who is a hospital administrator.

The mission and objectives of the Mentor Program are as follows:

Mission Statement

The Mentor Program seeks to encourage relationships between students and alumni mentors that enable the students to more fully integrate academic theory and career practice.

Objectives

     1. For each student to be able to share his or her perspectives, ideas, strategies and questions in a friendly forum.

     2. For each mentor, as a practitioner, to be able to stay abreast of changes in healthcare administration theory through interaction with the healthcare student.

     3. For each student to learn from his or her mentor’s experiences, personal insights, knowledge, and know-how.

     4. For each mentor to offer guidance to a student in preparing for or advancing in the healthcare field, including, defining career objectives and making effective career choices.

     5. For mentors and international students to learn...

• from each other’s cultural background;
• about their respective country’s healthcare systems;
• how new knowledge and skilled can be used to improve the functioning of these systems.

From the program kick-off in mid-October to the end of the program in mid-April, mentor-student pairs are encouraged to meet at least once a month. And, we encourage mentors and students to keep in touch between meeting through telephone calls and emails, as appropriate. To date, our mentors and students report that they are finding the Mentor Program to be enjoyable and beneficial.