An undergrad can benefit a lot from making positive connections with those working professionally. Important insight and connections to possible internships and job opportunities are both things to be gained from such relations. Gustavus’ Alumni Mentoring Program offers an opportunity to do just that.

The function of the Alumni Mentoring Program is to pair juniors and seniors at Gustavus with Gustavus alumni in one-on-one based relationships. The mentor and the mentee can communicate by email, phone, or face-to-face interaction, and share a relationship that has proven to be a positive, educational, and helpful experience for students. Amy Pehrson, Director of Mentoring, Vocation and Leadership in Center for Servant-Leadership shared her view of the program.

“It’s a great way to engage Alumni and also an awesome way to give some of our current students some practical and real world experience, whether it’s job shadowing, getting an internship, or just having someone look at their résumé,” Pehrson said.

Gustavus’s Economics and Management department was introduced to this program five years ago. Kathi Tunheim, Assistant Professor of Management at Gustavus Adolphus College, as well as the initiator and co-director of the program discussed the reason why this program was started.

“When I came here eight years ago I realized that the students weren’t engaged enough in the business community. Everywhere I worked in the business world we had a mentoring program, and so I was kind of surprised we didn’t have one here,” Tunheim said.

“It’s a great way to engage Alumni and also an awesome way to give some of our current students some practical and real world experience.”—Amy Pehrson

This ultimately led to her collaboration with alum, President of MDA Leadership Paul Batz, and trustee Scott Anderson which resulted in the launch of the Mentoring Program. After its introduction within the Economics and Management Department (E/M), the program proved successful and grew larger from then on.

“We piloted a small program of 12 pairs the first year. It worked well. We had 39 pairs the second year, 84 the third year, 135 last year and 160 alumni student E/M pairs this year. We have had this explosive growth and now it is not just in Economics, Management and Accounting. Now we have Communication Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, Political Science, Education and Psychology majors involved, too. The Athletics Department has tripled their own program since last year,” Tunheim said.

Junior and Political Science Major Jack Anderson was fortunate enough to become involved as a sophomore last year and shared some of the benefits he experienced as a mentee.

“It was a great experience. My mentor was very engaging and enthusiastic to help me and to teach me about her career path and her experience here at Gustavus. She was also nice enough to find me an internship last summer,” Anderson said.

On top of being a mentee, Anderson also contributes to the program as one of six student directors who work at engaging students within various departments such as Political Science and Economics and Management.

“If you are an E/M student you need to know that this exists, and you need to at least consider joining because if you’re not, we’re doing you a disservice,” Anderson said.

Other pilot programs that are in progress this fall subsist within Nursing, Athletics, Education, and Psychology.

“We’re looking at about 275 mentoring pairs just this year alone,” Amy Pehrson stated.

Tunheim explained that the Alumni Mentoring Programs success so far is the result of the partnership between staff, alumni, faculty, and students.     This program that started with just 12 student-mentor pairs within the Economics and Management department five years ago has made ample progress.

“There is room for improvement but I would certainly consider that this program has been successful in helping students prepare for what comes next, whether it’s an internship, graduation, a world of work, or graduate school,” Pehrson said.

Tunheim reflected on the programs vision for the coming years.

“If you are an Economics/Management student you need to at least consider joining.”—Jack Anderson

“It really needs to be top five alumni engagement strategies for the college. Our goal is to provide a mentor for any student who wants one,” Tunheim said.

-Tom Wittwer