CHSRF CAN! Mentorship Program

The CHSRF CAN! network has over 60 members who are in various stages of their careers. Collectively, we have a very rich range of experiences. In order to foster mentorship activities between network members, the leaders have launched a formal "Mentorship Program". The purpose of the program is to link individuals seeking advice about future training or employment opportunities to others who have agreed to particpate as mentors.

Jenny Korolik is currently coordinating the Mentorship Program. If you are interested in becoming a mentor or are seeking advice about future training or employment opportunities, please email Jenny at jenny.korolik@utoronto.ca

Objective
The objective of the Mentorship Program is to foster mentorship between members of the CHSRF CAN! network. This will be achieved by linking individuals in the network seeking advice about future career options (e.g. students (MSc, PhD, or Post-Doctoral) or individuals considering a career change) to others in the network who are already in training programs or the workplace.

Description of the Mentorship Program

Program Coordinator
The program will be maintained by the CHSRF CAN! leader who is the desginated as the mentorship program coordinator (referred to as the "coordinator" throughout this document). The coordinator will be appointed by consensus of the CHSRF CAN! leaders on an annual basis. One individual may act as the coordinator throughout the entire term as leader.

Mentors
Mentors can be any individuals in the CHSRF CAN! network who are willing to provide career advice to more junior members of the network. PhD students, Post-Doctoral students, individuals employed in academic settings, and individuals employed in non-academic settings may act as mentors.

Information on Mentors
The coordinator will maintain an Excel spreadsheet of information on individuals within the network who are willing to participate as mentors. The following information will be collected from all mentors:

Full name of Mentor
Current Position and Affiliation
Email address (to be used by potential mentees to contact the mentor)
A list of keywords that describe your current work duties of the mentor ( or describe program of study in the case of current PhD or Post-Doctoral Students)
A list of key words that describe other work (or study) experiences of the mentor

The coordinator will email members of the CHSRF CAN! network on a biannual basis (in May and November) asking new individuals to join the program as mentors. This email may be distributed as part of the CHSRF CAN! email newsletter and announcements. The coordinator will email all current mentors individually on a biannual basis (in May and November) to ensure information in the spreadsheet is correct. At this time, they will also ask mentors to comment on the Mentorship Program. Individuals may be added or removed from the list of mentors at any time by contacting the coordinator. A mentor can also ask the coordinator to temporarily refrain from releasing their name to potential menteess if they are being contacted by too many individuals.

Duties of Mentors and Mentees
In order to participate in the program, potential mentees will email the coordiantor. They will indicate the type of mentor that they are looking for. They must specify, for exmaple, if they are looking for advice on future training opportunities (PhD or Post-Doctoral) or future employment opportunities (academic or non-academic). The coordinator will send them the name, position, affiliation, contact information keyword descriptors of individual mentors that they may be interested in contacting. After the mentee has contacted the individuals, they will send a brief evaluation of their experience to the coordinator indicating whether they were able to speak to the mentor andf whether they the found the experience worthwhile.