It's Time to Apply for Funds to Mentor a Staff Intern. Deadline is
June 2
From now through June 2, faculty and staff can apply for funding to support staff internships and become mentors themselves. Subsidies for approximately 10 internships are available to departments from a central pool of funds.
Joseph Cerny, vice chancellor for research and dean of the Graduate Division; Marion Lentz, assistant director of Sponsored Projects; Carol Soc, assistant to the dean in the Graduate Division, and Sandra Rehling, College of Chemistry student affairs officer , are among more than 20 staff and faculty who are sponsoring staff internships this year.
As mentors, they serve as coaches, teachers, career advisers, role models and supervisors to career staff who are eager to expand their skills.
The Staff Internship Program, started in 1989, allows staff employees to take up to a year away from their permanent jobs to work in paid, mentored internships.
Recently the program was awarded permanent funding, affirming the university's commitment to career development for staff, even in hard financial times, said Val Weller, program manager.
"The program has been highly successful in preparing a diverse, talented group of employees for the challenges of future leadership roles at the university. I want to encourage our best managers and supervisors to become mentors," said Chancellor Tien.
"We are looking for excellent managers and supervisors who are reflective about their management style, their professions and the institution, and who will invest time in nurturing their relationships with interns," said Weller. "Our goal is to broaden the experience and skills of high potential employees who want to jump-start their careers."
Mentors contribute to interns' professional growth while accomplishing critical work for the campus.
"Sam Castañeda's internship has helped me solve a decades old conundrum," said Cerny. "Sam had the opportunity to review the Postdoc-toral and Visiting Scholar Program and to develop a plan to create consistency in its policies and services.
"He conducted in-depth interviews with enough faculty and staff administrators to understand the complexity of the problem and then develop a generally acceptable solution. He broadened his awareness of how this campus and sister campuses deal with this issue and developed his interview, analysis and writing skills."
Student Affairs Officer Rehling mentored Mei Griebenow from engineering and Gloria Frank from the Visitor Information Center, teaching them how to advise freshmen majoring in chemistry and chemical engineering. "I appreciated the opportunity to work with talented, motivated interns who contributed so much to the college. As an added bonus, it's a great feeling to know I helped them gain the skills and experience which quickly translated into promotions to student advising positions for both," said Rehling.