Mentorship Institute for Staff and Faculty

10 – 10:45 a.m. Welcome & Trends in Mentorship Presentation

10:45 – 11 a.m. Break

11 – 11:45 a.m. Student Panel: What Does ACCESS Look Like in the Mentorship Experience?

The student panel consists of Angelli McGuigan, Sian Persad, Sherry Xu and Frances Northeast.

11:45 a.m. – 12 p.m. Break.

12 – 12:45 p.m. Concurrent Sessions

How it Started: Culturally Responsive Mentorship Program

Presented by: Sarah Klassen (she/her/hers), University of Toronto Scarborough

In this session, Sarah examines equity, access and what it would look like to intentionally meet the current and emerging needs of African, Black and Caribbean students through mentorship. Moreover, this session will overview the How It Started Mentorship program and examine it’s African-centered knowledge systems and critical mentoring practices as culturally responsive program to support self-identifying African, Black and Caribbean men at UTSC.

Presenter bio: Sarah Klassen is an Academic & Learning Strategist focused on supporting students of African, Black and Caribbean descent in the Academic Advising and Career Center at UTSC. She brings to her current role a wealth of experience and knowledge from her previous work as a Student Development Coordinator with UTSC’s Arts and Science Co-op. Sarah is passionate about developing student-centered programming designed to embrace and embed African-centered knowledge systems to create a more inclusive learning environment at UTSC.

Creating Inclusive & Accessible Mentorship Programs

Presented by: Morghan Brett (she/her), BAH, Certified Horticultural Therapist, MEd

This session will examine inclusion, equality, equity and disability through a critical lens. Expanding on these terms further, this session will provide an in-depth overview of Accessibility Services at the University of Toronto, as well as discuss barriers beyond physical obstacles to investigate what “accessible” means. Concrete examples for outreach, planning, and supporting engagement during programming will be shared.

Presenter bio: Morghan Brett currently works as the Program and Transition Coordinator with Accessibility Services on the Student Learning Team. Morghan holds an undergraduate degree in psychology and sociology, a certificate in horticultural therapy and a graduate degree in social justice education. She is a community engagement professional, an educator and social justice activist who adopts a critical decolonial pedagogy. She is dedicated to actively advancing her knowledge surrounding diverse epistemologies and ontologies.

12:45 – 1 p.m. Reflection & Wrap Up

10 – 10:15 a.m. Welcome & Reminders

10:15 – 11:15 a.m. Concurrent Sessions

What Goes into the Design of a Great Mentorship Program?

Presented by: Noor Al-Zanoon (she/her) – University of Alberta, WiSER

Since 2015, Women in Science, Engineering and Research (WiSER), and University of Alberta Women in Science and Engineering (UA-WiSE) have successfully developed and implemented a mentorship program to support women and underrepresented individuals in STEM. The mentorship program was uniquely designed with a trio structure consisting of one undergraduate student, one graduate student or early-career professional, and one experienced professional. This structure provides mentorship for individuals at various stages of their STEM careers. To date, we have helped 136 trios building lasting mentor-mentee relations. The successes and challenges of this program will be discussed. This talk will also provide tips on mentorship best practices based on our experiences with past and present program participants.

Presenter bio: Noor is pursuing a Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Science with a focus on technology and head and neck cancer treatment at the University of Alberta. Alongside her PhD, Noor is the current Co-Chair of Women in Science, Engineering and Research (WiSER) and is a talent program coordinator at the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (AMII). Across both these roles, Noor has extensive experience in developing curricula, delivering high-quality professional development programs, and building communities that foster equity, diversity, and inclusion for women and underrepresented groups in STEM. Noor is currently leading multiple program initiatives including WISER’s mentorship program, a program designed to help women and underrepresented groups in STEM develop the necessary networks with industry to advance in their careers.

Equity in Mentorship – Looking Beyond the Program

Presented by: Haneen Azzam (she/her) – Seneca College

In this session we will consider the ways in which we promote equity in our mentorship programs with a focus on the bigger picture. Together we will explore the experiences your mentors and mentees bring with them, the influence this has on their journey within your program, as well as the challenges they may face once they graduate. By understanding your participants’ world outside of your program, you can create a truly inclusive space and provide opportunities that generate equity based impact beyond the University walls.

Presenter bio: With a passion for student empowerment through education and opportunity, Haneen brings with her over a decade of experience implementing and managing projects in community development and youth engagement in the education and health sectors across the Middle East and Africa, UK and Canada. With a focus on building equity through access and education, Haneen has designed and implemented co-curricular programming across multicultural and high-risk communities in both community and post-secondary settings, having worked as Manager of Youth Services for Toronto Boys and Girls Club, as well as experience at Seneca College as a Student Conduct Officer, and at York University as Manager of Academic Honesty. Haneen is excited to be joining University of Toronto in July as the new Student Life Coordinator, Leadership and Equity Training. Haneen holds a BA in International Studies from American University, and a Masters in Arts in Education in Arts and Cultural settings from King’s College London.

Using Technology to Support Access in Mentorship Programming

Presented by: Marilyn Hardy & Abhinav Bhandari – Nimbus Learning

At Nimbus Learning, we looked to solve what we saw as a gap in support; our peers would reach out for help but would be faced with a multitude of obstacles to access student success services. We watched as they put time and effort into finding help (whether that be finding tutors, mentors or other support) on top of an already intense workload, juggling school, jobs and family responsibilities. We watched their health, wellbeing and success suffer as a result. Throughout this session learn more about how Nimbus Learning is using technology to support access in mentorship and peer programming.

Presenter bio: Nimbus Learning’s services to make student success services more accessible while cutting down on the administrative workload. The Nimbus Platform centralizes tutoring, mentorship and advising programs into one place, where service providers can make their availability known in a few steps and students can book what they need at the click of a button. We help tutors develop the tools they need to succeed in their first jobs, empower administrators to see every aspect of their program in seconds and guide future planning based on in-depth analytics.

11:15 – 11:30 a.m. Break

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Small Group Discussions/Targeted Conversations

During our targeted conversations you will be placed in groups of 3-4 folks to connect with folks about your programming, their programming and any lessons learned from the Mentorship Institute.

12:30 – 12:45 p.m. Bringing It All Together & Next Steps

12:45 – 1 p.m. Wrap Up & Thank You!