2010 Mentoring Fair
Good afternoon. I am Christine Ortiz, a faculty member in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Welcome to the 2010 Mentoring Fair. We would like to thank the Committee on Race and Diversity for sponsoring this event, in particular the chairs of the CRD mentoring subcommittee who have put forth an enormous amount of vision and effort in making this day a reality: Dionetta Jones, the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, Director, Office of Minority Education; Tobie Weiner, Department of Political Science, Undergraduate Administrator; as well as the other members of the committee and the organizational participants.
We are all here today to recognize the critical importance of lifelong mentoring as a key component of one’s academic and professional career, to facilitate mechanisms for the matching of mentors and mentees, and to recognize those members of our community who have acted as dedicated and exemplary mentors by donating their time, experience, advice, and enthusiasm to their junior colleagues. It is becoming increasingly evident that for today’s graduates to be competitive, they need more than technical and analytical skills, that they must possess a broad array of co-curricular and transferable skills including written and oral communication, global awareness, the ability to work in diverse teams, leadership, appreciation of ethical issues, etc. Hence, the need for an effective and broad mentoring “network” is more critical than ever to academic and professional success.
New concepts and best practices of mentoring are emerging, which go above and beyond technical training and include self-assessment, navigation of administration, development of transferable skills, career facilitation, and psychosocial aspects. Mentors act as role models, guides, teachers, counselors, coaches, and ultimately champions for their mentees. They are approachable and available. They see and cultivate the best qualities of their mentees, ones that mentees may not even be aware of, while simultaneously providing constructive and honest feedback and pathways to improvement. They inspire their mentees to reach new academic heights and goals. Mentors alert mentees to opportunities and support them in pursuing those opportunities. They build self-confidence. They ultimately maintain a distinctive, personal, and productive long-term relationship with their mentees.
Conversely, the mentor also benefits greatly by intellectual interactions with talented junior colleagues as well as derives satisfaction from seeing their mentees personal, academic, and professional growth under their guidance. Ultimately, mentoring creates a legacy that has a lasting impact that ensures the health of scientific disciplines, the Institute, as well as the academic enterprise as a whole.
Today we would like to acknowledge five outstanding mentors:
- Tania Baker, Professor of Biology
- Ed Bertschinger, Professor and Head of the MIT Physics Department
- Samual Allen, Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering
- Dr. Asha Bhakar, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at MIT
- Institute Professor Phillip Sharp
Professors Baker and Bertschinger will additionally provide some prepared remarks. As you will hear, these distinguished members of our community have impacted the lives of countless individuals by sharing their passion and love for science and engineering, their standards of rigor, their work ethic, their advice, their friendship, and their valuable time.