Math Mentoring Program
Mission
The mission of the Mathematics Mentoring Program is to help students successfully navigate the undergraduate program in Mathematics at Brandeis, and make it as inclusive as possible.
This mentoring program will aim at creating a supportive relation between a mentee (typically a first year student interested in the minor/major in math or applied math) and a more experienced undergraduate student serving as their mentor (typically a junior or senior student majoring in math or applied math). The mentoring, done by undergraduate students and for undergraduate students, serves several purposes for the mentees: getting to discuss the math curriculum, learning strategies, and long term goals, as well as getting to meet some of their peers and developing a lasting support network.
This program ran for the first time in Spring 2022
Structure
Any Brandeis undergraduate student can become a math mentee (for a semester, or longer). The mentees will be paired with an available mentor. Mentees commit to attend weekly meetings with the mentors during the full semester. This is registered by the math department who organizes the meetings.
Responsibility of Mentors
On regular weeks, each mentor meets with their group of mentees for 1 hour per week (Friday afternoons, at specified times) over pizza/snack/coffee provided by the department. These meetings will take place in the Math Community Room (Goldsmith 200).
The mentors meet with a supervising faculty member (or graduate student organizer) every 3 weeks to discuss how things are going and receive advice/feedback/additional material. The weekly schedule is set up at the beginning of the semester in agreement with a supervising faculty member. On special occasions, the meetings may be replaced by departmental events such as seminars and undergraduate events, in agreement with the supervising faculty member.
During the group meetings, the mentor opens the discussions with the mentees and offers advice / answer questions about
- Math curriculum
- Studying strategies, organizational skills.
- Campus resources (office hours, tutoring sessions, library books, softwares, putnam sessions, DRP, Counseling center, etc)
- Homeworks, exams, math books
- Situations of the mentee in math classes
- Goals and aspirations in math.
The social component of these meetings is essential, so the meetings will typically have both a “planned discussion” component and a looser “chatting” component.
Support from the Math Department
- A room and snacks are provided every week for the group meeting between mentors and mentees.
- The supervising faculty member provides advice and material for the mentors, and as a point of contact to both mentors and mentees throughout the semester.
- The supervising faculty member sets up a satisfaction survey at the end of the semester to assess the effectiveness of the mentoring program.
- Mentors receive a Title IX certificate, and the official Math Mentor title.
Expected Timeline, Spring 2024
- Group meetings will take place on Fridays either 3:30-4:20pm or 4:30-5:20pm in the Math common room (Goldsmith 200).
- An introductory meeting will be organized on Friday January 26th (to be confirmed) to welcome everyone in the program.
Contacts
- Olivier Bernardi, Chair, point of contact for the mentoring program. bernardi@brandeis.edu
- Dmitry Kleinbock, Undergraduate Advising Head, point of contact for curriculum questions. kleinboc@brandeis.edu.
- Catherine Broderick, Math academic administrator. cbroderi@brandeis.edu
- Rebecca Torrey, Professor, training coordinator for mentors. rtorrey@brandeis.edu