Students benefit from the encouragement, sound advice, and ongoing support from those who have succeeded in reaching their goals. Such counsel helps students clearly define educational and career goals and experience minimal obstacles while doing so. Having said this, the focus of the Benjamin E. Mays Mentoring Program at Boston College is to assist AHANA students in building those solid foundations. The underlying objective of the program is to inspire students to strive toward excellence and to perceive teaching as a possible career.
Mentoring Program
Negotiating a large university campus can be challenging for any freshman, but AHANA (African American, Hispanic, Asian, Native American) students at Boston College can find support through the Benjamin E. Mays Mentoring Program. This student/faculty mentoring program, named for the great educator Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, who himself served as a mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and many others, was established in 1991 by the Office of AHANA Student Programs under a Ford Foundation grant for improving campus diversity. The Mays Mentoring Program is designed to provide AHANA students with an opportunity to have a personal connection with a faculty member or administrator who can guide them through the college environment.
The Benjamin Elijah Mays Mentoring Program attempts to ameliorate potential isolation and loneliness that are often experienced by AHANA students by pairing them with a mentor who is willing and dedicated to develop a relationship with AHANA students and to follow them through their undergraduate career at Boston College.
There are currently over 70 mentors, including faculty members, doctoral students and administrators, and 160 students enrolled as protégés in the program. By working with students beginning in the first year, mentors assist protégés in building solid foundations that help to ensure the successful achievement of their goals. Mentors provide encouragement and support as students develop habits and attitudes that lead to academic and personal success.
How does the Mentoring Program work?
Mentors and students are paired according to students' academic interest and mentor's field. Once they meet, they develop a relationship by:
- Meeting regularly (minimum of three each semester) to review the student's academic progress and to assist them with developing strategies for success.
- Attending activities (minimum of one each semester) sponsored by the Benjamin Elijah Mays Mentoring Program.
- Attending other social activities, as desired, such as lunches, dinners, plays, athletic events and lectures.
- Collaborating on research projects, when appropriate.
Dr. Benjamin E. Mays Institute for the Preparation of Faculty Members
Mentors attend a two-and-a-half day summer institute to prepare them for the mentoring role. Since mentors and students come from a variety of cultural and racial backgrounds, the institute offers sessions on cross-cultural communications, responsibilities of mentors and techniques for building relationships. All sessions are presented by experts in the field. Students also participate in the institute sharing their stories and describing how mentors have helped them make the transition to university life.
For more information about the Benjamin E. Mays Mentoring Program, please contact
Mr. Warren Chiang
Office of AHANA Student Programs
Thea Bowman AHANA Center
72 College Road
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
Tel: 617-552-3359; Fax: 617-552-4313
Email: warren.chiang.1@bc.edu