{"650632":{"#nid":"650632","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Newly Launched MentIEs Program Connects ISyE Undergraduates and Alumni","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThanks to the world-class education they receive as students in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), many graduates have successful careers in consulting and industry. Because of this real-world experience, ISyE alumni can provide practical insights to current students about best practices for workplace professionalism and mastering teamwork, and many of them are eager to engage with the next generation of industrial engineers.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u201cStudents who want to have a career outside academia need to learn from people who have been there and know how it is done,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.isye.gatech.edu\/users\/damon-williams\u0022\u003EDamon P. Williams\u003C\/a\u003E (IE 2002), senior lecturer and director of ISyE\u2019s Center for Academics, Success, and Equity (CASE).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMembers of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/isye.gatech.edu\/about\/school\/isye-advisory-board\u0022\u003EISyE advisory board \u003C\/a\u003Ealso recognized this need and offered to mentor students to help them transition from college coursework and internships into their careers. Thus, with support from School Chair Edwin Romeijn, ISyE launched MentIEs \u2014 a program designed to connect current students with alumni mentors, as part of CASE, in January 2021.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur alumni have experiences to share and the passion to give back to our students,\u201d Williams said. \u201cThey can teach their mentees how to exceed expectations, be on a team, and contribute to workplace culture, because they have done it themselves.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EISyE piloted MentIEs with 20 members of its advisory board. Each mentor was paired with three undergraduate prot\u00e9g\u00e9s for the spring semester, with the program\u2019s curriculum structured around skills discussed in Stephen R. Covey\u2019s \u003Cem\u003EThe 7 Habits of Highly Effective People\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EJohn White (IE 1992) served as a mentor during the pilot and is the retired president and chief executive officer of Fortna Inc., a leading provider of supply chain solutions.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019ve personally seen and experienced the positive impact and the power of receiving coaching from professionals that came before me,\u201d White said. \u201cTheir taking a personal interest in me had a huge impact, and I know that without them, I would not have been able to achieve a number of milestones in my career. I feel that I owe it to my mentors, and the young professionals that I mentor, to do my best to help them achieve their full potential.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGroups are asked to meet monthly for one hour during the program, but White met with some of his mentees individually as well while they were navigating their last semester at Tech. He said the relationships he made with these young professionals have continued beyond the official program, and he enjoys seeing them rise to their potential, which helps keep ISyE and its graduates at the top.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe MentIEs program offers another way for young professionals to leapfrog their peers from other universities and gain insights that they most likely would not get otherwise until they have their own experiences,\u201d White added.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhite also believes mentors are learning from their mentees.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere are many situations in which I feel that I am the one benefiting from the mentor\/mentee relationship, as I continue to learn and gain perspectives and insights from my mentees. It is an incredibly rewarding and mutually beneficial relationship,\u201d he reflected.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBecause the program began during the Covid-19 pandemic, most MentIEs meetings were held virtually. Now that many of these restrictions have been lifted, the CASE team is also offering in-person events to enhance the networking experience.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEven with the challenges of the Spring 2021 semester, the MentIEs pilot was a resounding success. \u201cGiven the overwhelmingly positive feedback we received, we are going to double if not triple the number of mentor\/mentee connections in 2021-22,\u201d said Williams.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIf you are interested in becoming a mentor for the MentIEs program, contact Damon Williams at \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:damon.williams@isye.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003Edamon.williams@isye.gatech.edu\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn January 2021, ISyE launched MentIEs, a program designed to connect current students with alumni mentors that is part of the Center for Academics, Success, and Equity (CASE).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"In January 2021, ISyE launched MentIEs, a program designed to connect current students with alumni mentors that is part of the Center for Academics, Success, and Equity (CASE)."}],"uid":"35757","created_gmt":"2021-09-09 21:26:39","changed_gmt":"2023-05-17 16:35:15","author":"goberst3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2021-09-09T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2021-09-09T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"646968":{"id":"646968","type":"image","title":"Damon P. Williams","body":null,"created":"1619618518","gmt_created":"2021-04-28 14:01:58","changed":"1619618518","gmt_changed":"2021-04-28 14:01:58","alt":"Damon P. Williams","file":{"fid":"245598","name":"damon.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/damon.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/damon.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":70801,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/damon.jpg?itok=kZEo0j1R"}},"650610":{"id":"650610","type":"image","title":"John White","body":null,"created":"1631203441","gmt_created":"2021-09-09 16:04:01","changed":"1631203441","gmt_changed":"2021-09-09 16:04:01","alt":"John White","file":{"fid":"246902","name":"John White Color Pic (1).jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/John%20White%20Color%20Pic%20%281%29.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/John%20White%20Color%20Pic%20%281%29.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2945911,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/John%20White%20Color%20Pic%20%281%29.jpg?itok=JrWbyrcB"}}},"media_ids":["646968","650610"],"groups":[{"id":"660354","name":"Center for Academics, Success, and Equity"},{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39541","name":"Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laurie.haigh@isye.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ELaurie Haigh\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Manager\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}