Alumni Mentor Program

Alumni Mentor ProgramWe invite you to help us inaugurate our alumni mentor program! The goal is to connect Urban Studies undergrads with alumni for career networking and advice, using our Urban Studies Alumni Group on LinkedIn as the vehicle for the initial contact. Below we describe the course of action you would take to participate, both as an alum of the program or a current student.

For our alumni:
As a mentor, your obligation would simply be to grant one informational interview and one follow up with the undergraduate who contacts you. The student would identify you as a potential mentor based on his/her interest in your field of work and career trajectory (discerned from your LinkedIn profile). Beyond that, you can determine the duration and your future role as a mentor with your mentee. We recognize that you are a busy professional and that there will be times when your schedule is just too busy to take on another task, so always feel free to decline a student or ask the student to take a rain check.

How can you get involved?
Join LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/) if you’re not already a member, and then join the University of Pennsylvania Urban Studies Alumni LinkedIn group (http://tinyurl.com/lhn5bch).

In case you need a reason to join LinkedIn:
Scott Millstein (URBS '92) did a search within LinkeIn and found 1,712 UPenn graduates who self-identified as majoring in “Urban Studies/Affairs,” placing UPenn far ahead of any other school with Urban Studies programs. Yet, our LinkedIn page has under 300 members! Help us fill the gap, and keep UPenn at the top of the search results.

For current students:
We are piloting the alumni mentor program this fall in anticipation of it becoming part of URBS300: Fieldwork course activities in the spring semester. You would begin by identifying a potential mentor based on your career interests, by searching the University of Pennsylvania Urban Studies Alumni Group on LinkedIn. (Be aware that you might have to contact more than one person to find your mentor.) After one interview and one follow up, you and your mentor can decide what future interaction would be useful.

How can you get involved?
Step 1:  Join LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/) if you’re not already a member, and then join the University of Pennsylvania Urban Studies Alumni LinkedIn group (http://tinyurl.com/lhn5bch).

Step 2:  Search for alumni in your career field of interest. Feel free to browse through member profiles in our Alumni Group. If you need any help searching, send Victoria Karkov an email, and she will be happy to help out.

Here is a short article that you might find helpful, its a set of guidelines for how to reach out to engage with a potential mentor.

If you’ve found your mentor, definitely write us an email to let us know with whom you’re connecting!