Undergraduate Mentoring Description

Graduate student women will be matched with four or five undergraduate women who have indicated an interest in majoring in physics, astronomy, geology or a related field. We wish especially to involve undergraduate women still taking introductory series’ (for example the 7 series in physics); however we welcome women at any point in their studies. We will attempt to have all the undergraduate women assigned to one graduate woman be in the same class (i.e. all in 7A this semester). The graduate women will meet with her undergrads about once a week for approximately an hour at times and places convenient for all involved. There is no set agenda for these meetings. We think that the women involved should determine for themselves the most beneficial way to spend this time. Below, we outline some more esoteric goals of these meetings and some specific activities that could occur during these meetings.

Goals:

• The graduate women should act as a resource for the undergraduate women by acquainting them with various programs and people that the department has available for them: colloquia, faculty advisors, department activities (ex. physics department poster session), undergraduate clubs (ex. Society of Physics Students), undergraduate assistants, etc.
• The graduate women should provide encouragement and advice to the undergraduate women when their classes seem overwhelming, frightening, or impossible (because we've been there too!). This is one of the most important goals of this program. Anecdotal evidence indicates that many of the graduate women in the department have someone in their past who filled this role for them when they were undergrads.
• The graduate women should facilitate the women in their group getting to know each other so they can form study groups and friendships. Again, anecdotal evidence among the graduate women in the department indicates that many of them had women with whom they studied and interacted on a regular basis in their undergraduate science classes and that they found this very beneficial.

Possible Activities:

• Tour of the graduate woman's (mentor's) lab
• Lunch with mentor and her advisor or other colleagues
• Tutoring or assistance with problem sets
• Assistance with writing graduate school application essays
• Assistance with applying for fellowships or scholarships
• Introduction of the mentees to their TA's
• Talking about how things are going with classes
• Help choosing papers topics for science classes
• Assistance with finding a research group

Monthly Social Activities

Approximately once a month an informal get together will be planned to which everyone in the relevant departments is invited (both men and women). Past events have included round table discussions with themes relevant to women's issues and liquid nitrogen ice cream socials (come and find out what it is!). We welcome suggestions of events that would be interesting or useful. If you would like to get an announcement by email for these events, send an email to the address below and you will be added to the announcement list.

Contact Information

If you would like to participate in any capacity (mentor, mentee, attend events) please contact the program's graduate student coordinator, Lindley Winslow, via email at: swps@berkeley.edu. Administrative oversight of this program is handled by Colette Patt, Director of the Physical Sciences Student Diversity Program, who may be reached via email at: colette_patt@ls.berkeley.edu or via telephone at 510-642-0794.

We would like to thank the Letters and Science Dean's Office, the Department of Physics and Vice-Chancellor Genaro Padilla's Office for providing the funds and support for this program.