In observance of National Mentoring Month, our own IU Southeast Mentors and Mentees were honored with a luncheon on Wednesday, January 22.

Chancellor Wallace took to the podium to share his personal experiences with mentoring during his early college years.

“I would not be here today if it were not for a number of mentors,” Wallace said.  “I was like a homesick kid, uncertain how to trust or interact with genuinely well-meaning people.”

Organized by June J. Huggins, director of IU Southeast’s Center for Mentoring, around eighty mentors and mentees attended the luncheon, held in Hoosier West.   Huggins created, and has been at the helm of, IU Southeast’s mentoring program since 1995. She believes it is a beneficial program to both the mentor and mentee.

“It is important to raise awareness of mentoring in its various forms, and to recruit individuals to mentor – especially in programs that have a waiting list for young people” said Huggins.

The mentoring program is designed to provide peer connections, socialization and guidance to all IU Southeast students.

Wallace said that his first mentor provided advice that he still values today. “Straighten up and fly right” said Wallace. “He was the person who believed in me.”  Wallace’s second mentor was his track coach and a bit of an outside the box character. The lessons he taught were founded in motivation. This mentor had, Wallace said, “An interesting use of Anglo-Saxon vernacular – made you want to work harder!”  Wallace also shared that during that particular class, the coach would often run-up the hill passing the team, cigarette in hand – pushing them by yelling “pick it up boys!”  The coach had a “no excuses” policy and pushed him hard to help him achieve his best.

The next mentoring experience Wallace shared with the attendees, was a professor who he credits for his own professional success.  “I became an English professor because of him,” Wallace said. This mentor offered strong critique on Wallace’s writing and often told him he was capable of doing better.  “Good mentors are natural motivators,” said Wallace.

Wallace encouraged everyone in attendance to reach out to their mentors and thank them, stating that one of his biggest mistakes had been not keeping in touch with his own mentors.

Huggins reiterated Wallace’s point by adding, “No one is self-made.  We’ve all had people who have helped us along the way.  Send a note and let them know how they have changed your life.”

Both mentors and mentees attending the luncheon expressed their support and appreciation for the program.

“Being a mentor provides social interaction and allows me to get to know students,“ said Professor Ghansham Manwani, a program mentor and senior lecturer of computer science at IU Southeast.

“Mentoring provides acknowledgment that you are doing the right thing.  It can be an emotional pat on the back.”, said Nicholas Moore, a junior marketing major and mentee in the program.

Huggins encouraged everyone to be on the lookout for a fellow student or professor that they believe would make a great mentor, and to contact her so that she can reach out to them.

In addition to the emotional and social connection mentoring provides, there is a direct corroleation to academic success.   “Students who are part of the IU Southeast’s Center for Mentoring are graduating at a higher rate than ever before,” said Huggins.

If you would like to sign up for the Center for Mentoring program to be mentored, suggest someone to be mentor, or offer yourself as a mentor, please reach out to June J. Huggins, Director for the  Center for Mentoring located in University Center South,  Room 205.  She can be reached by phone at (812) 941-2516 or emailed at mentorin@ius.edu.