The Art & Archaeology Undergraduate Mentorship Program provides mentorship, academic enrichment, and a dynamic intellectual and social community to junior and senior History of Art and Practice of Art majors and is an exciting complement to the department’s existing offerings for undergraduate-graduate collaboration, like the Thesis Workshop.
Participants in the A&A Undergraduate Mentorship Program will be matched with a graduate mentor; each graduate mentor will work with 3–4 undergraduate students. Mentees will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with their mentor throughout the academic year to discuss art, art history, research habits, career paths, and college life in an informal, non-judgmental space. Additionally, mentees will attend 1–2 group events, such as meals, art exhibitions, and casual group conversations, each semester to meet and bond with their peers.
The Mentorship Program offers Art & Archaeology undergraduates a forum where they can seek advice from graduate students—many of whom are close in age to them and possess recent and diverse work experiences in the realms of art and academia—to help guide them toward their own academic, artistic, and professional goals. Through the mentor/mentee relationships created, the program endeavors to help make art history and the arts more accessible and familiar for current students as they consider their possible career and life paths. The one-on-one meetings and group events will, in turn, provide a space for graduate and undergraduate students to exchange knowledge and build rapport with one another, fostering an open and collegial atmosphere within the department. Additionally, a key goal of the program’s mentorship groups is to create a meaningful forum to connect students from the History of Art and Practice of Art tracks.
“The mentorship program was extremely helpful as I tried to orient myself in the department and make better sense of Art and Art History. It was such a pleasure to get to know my mentor and the fellow undergraduate students outside of classrooms and discuss [art]. I really appreciate all the time and effort that went into realizing such a valuable program that had contributed to making my undergraduate experience in Art History rich and full.” —Spring 2022 Mentorship Program participant
If you have any questions about the program, please email [email protected].
The mentee application for the 2022-2023 academic year is available beginning Monday, August 22, 2022 until Friday, September 9. Mentors and mentees will be matched by Friday, September 16, and the first meetings will begin the week of September 19.
2022–23 Graduate Leadership
Katy Knortz, G3, Lead Coordinator
Will Pedrick, G4, Mentor
Samuel Shapiro, G3, Mentor