College to institute alumni mentoring

College of Arts and Sciences students unsure about their future will soon have another resource to turn to.

A new program headed by College Dean Dennis DeTurck will pair current College students with College alumni mentors. The goal is to give students career advice "in a way academic advisers and Career Services can't quite provide," DeTurck said.

The program is scheduled to kick off later this month.

"It's an effort to provide some of the same kind of things other schools at Penn provide for their undergraduates who are headed to the work force after graduation," DeTurck said. "We're trying to learn from them... [It is] more of a cooperative effort."

At the first official meeting, students are slated to get advice from College Alumni Society President Steven Sokolow, a lawyer for a pharmaceutical company.

At smaller events throughout the semester, about 10 to 15 students at a time will meet with an alumnus.

Overall, 400 to 600 students per year are expected to participate, which is about the number of students in each class that DeTurck estimates will not go on to graduate or professional schools.

With so many students in the College and other the undergraduate schools at Penn on a pre-professional track, "one thing College students often find ... is a certain insecurity of the direction their life is taking at the moment," DeTurck said.

While "Career Services does a terrific job ... we want to be more in your face," he added.

After the alumni presenters speak, students will have the chance to follow up with questions. This should help them get advice about courses, internship and job opportunities, DeTurck said.

Although no speakers other than Sokolow have been pinned down, DeTurck expects several events each month.

He emphasized that while the alumni speakers are intended to help students learn about career opportunities, the program is not meant to get students jobs.

"It's not what mentoring programs are meant for. It's the opportunity to learn about a field, learn skills, gain depth and knowledge ... about a particular career field or job type," Associate Director of Career Services Peggy Curchack said.

College junior Neha Kamani, a math and economics major, said she plans to participate.

"In the College, we don't have enough alumni to guide us into appropriate channels of professional experience," she said.

Students aren't the only ones looking forward to the opportunity. Many College alumni have been seeking chances to interact with students.

"Alumni love to do this. They love to help, love to talk to students about their own undergraduate experience," Kneely said.

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