Thursday, October 2, 1997
The University Daily Kansan
Section A • Page 3
Mentorship program offered to women
Relationships aim to help students succeed in school
B₇ Ryan Koerner
kroerner@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center held the opening meeting for its women-only, freshman/sophomore mentoring program last night.
The informal meeting was the first opportunity for the students to meet the faculty and staff who will serve them as mentors.
"There is no one way these mentors can help," said Barbara Ballard, director of the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center. "This is a way in which to meet faculty or staff that maybe has been there. They can then be a role model for the students."
Ballard said 56 women had signed up to participate with the mentors. Women interested in the mentor program should contact the resource center at 864-3552.
Twenty-eight faculty and staff members had confirmed to serve as mentors, Ballard said.
"I approached women that I know are interested, women on campus who I generally send most of our information to," Bal
Kathryn Nemeth Tuttle, director of the freshman/sophomore advising center, is one of the women who agreed to serve as a mentor.
"Sometimes I think new students are hesitant to connect with faculty because they want so badly to relate with people their own age," Tuttle said.
It is important for students to develop relationships with professionals, Tuttle said. The professionals have the jobs and have tried to juggle all the responsibilities that students will encounter when they graduate.
Although the students and faculty had the opportunity to introduce themselves at the meeting, they will not know their mentorship pairings until next week.
The students participating in the program will receive a letter late next week notifying them of whom their mentors will be, Ballard said.
take the initiative in this relationship. They should learn that women need to take the initiative more often and that that's an OK thing to do."
"When the mentees contact their mentor, they will know they are calling someone who has agreed to do this," Ballard said. "We want the mentees to
After the pairings are made, mentors are expected to meet with their students at least twice a semester. Students in the mentor program are also asked to attend three other events during the year: two programs sponsored by the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center and a year-end evaluation meeting.
"We are asking women that are freshman to stay with the program the four or five years they are here," Ballard said. "That way we can process their evaluation information and have documentation of what benefit it was to the students."
Kylie Colgan, Overland Park freshman, and Lindsay Rome, Holcomb freshman, learned about the program through a meeting in their residence hall.
"Here's a chance to meet with someone regularly who I can have a great relationship with, someone who can really help while I am here," Rome said.
Colgan said, she has learned that there is specific attention she needs that is hard to get from a large class.
"I would love to have some one to sit down with that can act as an adviser or just keep me on track," Colgan said.
By Marcelo Vilela Special to the Kansan
Dance sure to move audience
The KU School of Architecture and the University Dance Company will join forces tomorrow to present a performance that is guaranteed to move audience members.
Nine dancers from the University Dance Company will perform on three abstract structures in a field near Clinton Lake. The audience will follow along on a path while watching the performance.
Fifteen graduate students in architecture built the steel structures specifically for the occasion. The structures symbolize life cycles, which is the theme of the performance.
Joan Stone, instructor in music and dance, and Judith Major, associate professor of architecture and urban design, organized the event, titled "Can One Dance the Landscape?"
The University Dance Company and the School of Architecture will present "Can One Dance the Landscape?" at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Barber School near Clinton Lake
Performance
The performance is free, but
admission to the park is $4.
admission to the park is $4.
Directions to the Barber School:
Directions to the Barber School:
Take Clinton Parkway west until it ends. Turn right (north) and take the second left. Follow the
park road to the toll booth, turn back on the park road and follow to "dumping station" parking
From 1-70:
Take Exit 197 - Lecompton/
Lawrence (Route 10) and go
right for 2 1/2 miles to exit for
Clinton Lake State Park. Follow
the park road to toll booth, turn
back on the park road and follow
to "dumping station" parking.
The performance will take place along a pathway from the Barber School to a ridge that overlooks Clinton Lake.
No seating will be available. The audience will need to move along with the performers as they dance from structure to structure. Attendants will assist those requiring wheelchair access.
The Barber School, a one-room schoolhouse built in 1871, was restored by the School of Architecture in 1995.
The half-hour performance will start around 6:30 p.m.
High schoolers give the ol' college a try
By Mike Perryman
Kansan staff writer
to prepare their agendas.
KU graduate and undergraduate biology students will show Lawrence High School students the ropes this semester as part of the KU Biology Mentorship Program.
The University of Kansas' biology students will meet on campus two times a month with their designated high school partners. They will bring students to classes and labs with them, and the younger students may even participate in some research, said Terry Huynh, Wichita senior and coordinator of the program.
The Mentorship Program, which is in its first year, was created to familiarize high school students with the University and the Division of Biological Sciences.
High school students will meet with their KU partner and Huynh at the beginning of each semester
"We want to get students involved early on in the excitement and challenge of research and college activities." he said.
Ken Highfill is the high school advisor for the LHS students and is responsible for selecting the students.
By working in the labs with KU students, high school students can receive hands-on experience and become familiar with the activities of college. Huyhn said.
"We will help the student realize what the biology department is like," he said. "If they come to KU,
they will know what it takes to succeed in certain areas."
Graduate and undergraduate students are both accepted as mentors, but undergraduates are preferred because they can associate with high school students a little better. They also can spend a little more time with the teen-agents, said Christopher Haufler, program adviser and professor of botany.
The program is a way of giving students a sense of direction and helping them get a foot in the door. he said.
"I was lost at KU for a while because I did not know how to get into labs and I did not know that undergraduates could participate in research," he said. "This program will give students a little guidance."