International Doctoral Student Mentorship Circles
Each fall, Engineering Career Connections (with the Graduate School and International
Students and Scholars) hosts mentorship circles for international doctoral students
interested in going into industry upon graduation. Each circle, which contains 2-3
mentors and 4-6 students, will be organized by student degree status (first year,
middle years, ABD, final year) to ensure that students benefit from each other’s questions.
Mentors will be people in industry who are former international students and who have
a doctoral degree and/or work closely with people who have doctoral degrees. Topics
of conversation may include:
- Networking
- How to succeed at a conference
- Identifying employers who are open to sponsorship
- How to discuss your dissertation with industry
Become a Mentor
To participate as a mentor, we ask that you meet the following eligibility criteria:
- Have a doctoral degree in STEM OR work closely with people who have a doctoral degree
in STEM
- Do NOT have to be a U of A alumnus
- During school, studied on a student visa
- Commit to participating in entirety of program
Below is the anticipated timeline for the 2024-2025 mentorship circles.
- June 1: Mentor Application Opens
- July 15: Mentee Application Opens
- August 15: Mentor and Mentee Applications Close
- August 23: Mentors and Mentees notified of selection status and introduced to circles
- September 3: Kick-off event to introduce everyone and set expectations
- September – October: Circles meet every other week
- November 4: Survey sent out to mentors and mentees
The signup period for 2024-2025 mentors to participate is June 1 – August 15. To complete
your signup submission, you will need to fill out the availability worksheet, which
is linked below. The signup process should take 10-15 minutes to complete (including
the availability worksheet).
Availability WorksheetSignup Form
To support our mentor volunteers, we have developed and found resources. You can find
links to the resources below. You can also contact Kelsey Lavigne at klavigne@uark.edu
for support.
- Mentorship Circles Handbook – Coming Soon
- Recommended Activities Guide – Coming Soon
- Mentor Training Slidedeck – Coming Soon
- Article 1: How to be a good mentor – Coming Soon
- Article 2: Benefit of mentorship circles – Coming Soon