Contact: Maridith Geuder
When Mississippi State University freshman Charlie W. Wilder of Ocean Springs first arrived on campus last fall, he found he needed advice on topics ranging from how to change his major to where to find a campus telephone directory.
He also knew he had somewhere to turn for help. One of 500 freshmen in a pilot project initiated in 2001 by the Division of Student Affairs, he had a personal mentor who could refer him to the appropriate offices for information and assistance.
Orly B. Hardin, a recruiting coordinator in the Office of Enrollment Services, is just one of 100 Student Affairs staff members volunteering time to make the university experience more personal for some of Mississippi State's 1,900 entering freshmen. She serves as a mentor to Wilder and several other freshmen.
"Because we're in the Student Affairs division, we can help find resources when students need to know where to turn," she said. "Charlie has asked a lot of questions and has been very receptive to suggestions," she added.
After attending a daylong orientation last spring, mentors this fall made contact with their student partners, and often with parents. The program asks that mentors be in touch with students through personal visits, as well as by electronic mail and phone calls, and provide periodic assistance and encouragement.
"Students participating in the first year of the project were chosen at random, but we hope to expand it to all incoming freshmen," said Michael W. White, dean of students.
A primary goal of the project is to encourage academic progress and a positive campus experience, he said. Preliminary evaluations of the new effort indicate that it has promise in achieving its goals, he added.
Retired psychology professor David L. McMillen, who directs the university's Pathfinder program--an academic outreach effort that encourages class attendance--said initial numbers for the Student Affairs mentoring project are encouraging.
"While we have only one semester's data at this point, it's my opinion the project will produce only better results over time."
McMillen noted that those students in the Student Affairs mentoring program had a fall 2001 grade point average of 2.82, compared to 2.62 for those who didn't participate.
"That doesn't look like a huge difference, but it's statistically significant," he said. "These numbers certainly look promising."
Charlie Wilder, one of the 500 initial participants in the program, just knows the mentoring program has made a difference for him. He's happy to be majoring in secondary education and to be following a goal of becoming a teacher and school administrator.
And, acting on a suggestion from his mentor Orly Hardin, he sought a coveted position as one of 18 orientation leaders selected annually to introduce incoming students to the university. "I made it," he said.