Tag Archive for: Volunteers

Q & A with Professor Buffy Smith, author of new book that explores mentoring high risk college students

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The Hidden Curriculum Charlie Tyson (reposted from Inside Higher Education) In recent years, many colleges and universities have turned to mentoring programs in an attempt to retain underperforming students. Federally supported mentoring programs have been around since the Higher Education Act of 1965, which created student services programs such as Upward Bound, said Stephanie Gordon, vice […]

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It takes two: New research investigates reciprocity in the teacher-student mentoring relationship

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Ferguson, S. (2017). Ask not what your mentor can do for you…: The role of reciprocal exchange in maintaining student-teacher mentorships. Sociological Forum, 1-23. DOI: 10.1111/socf.12406. Summarized by Justin Preston   Introduction In the present study, the author seeks to underscore a framework for relational processes that make social capital, or the goodwill available to […]

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New research shows that volunteering can help keep older adults’ minds sharp

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Posted by Sheena Rice, futurity.org Volunteering may improve cognitive function of older adults, especially for women and those with lower levels of education. While the links of volunteering to physical health are well known, its associations with mental functioning are less clear. “Cognitive functions, such as memory, working memory, and processing are essential for living […]

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Profiles in Mentoring: A conversation with Kristin Humphrey of Partners for Youth with Disabilities

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Kristin Humphrey is the Mentoring Director at Partners for Youth with Disabilities (PYD), a Boston-based organization with national impact that matches youth with disabilities with caring adults through one-on-one, group, and online mentoring. Humphrey has worked with youth with disabilities for the past nine years, and has been involved with mentoring for over a decade. […]

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Youth-initiated mentoring: An idea whose time has come

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by Jean Rhodes A growing number of studies have demonstrated the benefits of youth-initiated mentoring (YIM). Rather than being assigned a mentor, young people are provided with the skills and scaffolding to recruit caring adults from within their own networks. Last week, we highlighted a study in which Dutch researchers successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of this […]

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Facebook is testing a feature for mentorships between users

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by Ingrid Lunden (@ingridlunden) Next Story Earlier this year, Facebook signaled a plan to move into LinkedIn’s territory with the launch of job advertising. Now it appears to be taking another step to help develop the professional you. TechCrunch has learned that Facebook is testing a way to use its social network to link up users who are looking for […]

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What keeps a mentor engaged? New research sheds some light.

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Larsson, M., Pettersson, C., Eriksson, C., & Skoog, T. (2016). Initial motives and organizational context enabling female mentors’ engagement in formal mentoring–A qualitative study from the mentors’ perspective. Children and Youth Services Review, 71, 17-26. Summarized by Kirsten Christensen   Introduction Youth have a strong need to develop close relationships with those around them to succeed developmentally. […]

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JAY Z’s 4:44 is a Mentoring Album and Here is Why

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JAY Z’s 4:44 is a Mentoring Album and Here is Why By Torrie Weiston, Ph.D. Yeah, I said it, 4:44 is a mentoring album and here is why… It does not take very long into the album before listeners realize that there is a maturity in JAY Z’s tone. His raw talent and ability to […]

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FORUM: What is your most effective mentor recruitment message?

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Mentoring programs are becoming increasingly sophisticated in how they recruit mentors and the messages they use to get volunteers to take the plunge and formally apply to be a mentor. Large national organizations might hire leading advertising firms to carefully craft their recruitment messages, but even the smallest local programs can come up with a […]

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Profiles in Mentoring: A conversation with Julie Gehring

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Written by Jelle de Graaf and Vera van den Berg Julie Gehring is the Director of Mentoring at Mother Caroline Academy in Boston. Mother Caroline Academy is a private, tuition-free school for girls in grades 4 to 8 from families with limited means. At the academy she works to match girls in grade 7 and […]

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