The Graduate Student
Committee of the Medieval Academy of America would like to announce its
sponsorship of a mentorship program. This program is designed to extend
a welcome to less experienced members of the MAA by pairing them with
more experienced graduate students to help make the social and
professional realms of medieval studies more accessible. James Wade (jpw49@cam.ac.uk) will be coordinating the program this
year. Any graduate student member of the MAA who would like to have or
serve as a mentor should register online by using the form below.
The intent of the mentorship program is to offer an informal means for
established graduate students (and junior faculty) to welcome and
briefly connect with newer members of the MAA and to help facilitate
social and professional interaction. Some ways the mentor might assist
the mentee include: being a friendly and supportive contact via e-mail,
answering questions about the on-goings of the MAA, discussing various
aspects of professional life, teaching, or working within a department,
explaining how best to navigate a large professional conference (such
as the MAA’s annual meeting), or offering tips about the job market. At
minimum, the mentor would be expected to correspond two or three times
per term via e-mail and to meet his or her mentee for a brief
conversation if both happen to attend the same conference. The purpose
of the mentorship program is not for detailed career advice, serious
academic mentorship, or for intense discussions of research. Rather,
the program is intended to ease new members into the world of the MAA
and to offer a mechanism through which more experienced graduate
students can offer professional and academic advice to other, less
experienced graduate students.
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