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While we may be biased, Mentor Collective has the best partners in Higher Education.
Mentor Collective partners are forward-thinking leaders and innovators committed to increasing access to and delivering the promise of higher education for ALL students.
So it’s no wonder they advocate for ensuring students are exposed to the high-impact student success practice of mentorship at pivotal moments in their student journey. Our partners’ collaboration and passion help us deliver on our shared promise of empowering all people to realize their full potential.
We are exceptionally proud to share our 190 partners have formed nearly 245,000 mentoring relationships between students and trained, relevant mentors.
As we enter Mentor Collective’s first Partner Appreciation Week, I and everyone at Mentor Collective want to say “thank you” to our impact-first partner community. In addition, I want to uplift the fantastic work of a few of our partners who manage their mentorship programs daily. Read their stories throughout the week.
Here is a message from Jackson Boyar, CEO, and Co-Founder, of Mentor Collective.
Introducing Tiffani Williams
We're excited to present this insightful interview between Alexandria Glaize, Head of Partner Marketing, Mentor Collective, and Tiffani Williams, Student Impact Coordinator, Cargill Co-Impact Director, Tuskegee University.
Don’t have time to read the full interview? Use the links in the Table of Contents below to read the highlights you care about.
Table of Contents
Early Interventions to Turn Academic Struggles to Academic Success
We’re pleased to highlight Tiffani Williams, Student Impact Coordinator, Cargill Co-Impact Director, Tuskegee University, as an honoree for Mentor Collective’s Partner Appreciation Week.
Golden Tiger Mentoring is a first-year experience peer-to-peer mentorship program through Mentor Collective that uses a highly responsive platform to design, manage, and analyze large-scale mentorship programs. The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Tuskegee University designed their program with their Mentor Collective mentorship team to focus on supporting incoming undergraduate students and creating leadership opportunities for upper-division students.
Through manageable and effective surveys, first-year students were matched with upper-division peers that shared experiences or identities important to the mentee. Volunteer student mentors additionally received training and resources from both Mentor Collective and Tuskegee University to ensure they felt prepared and comfortable with the role’s responsibilities and platform’s features.
Adapt to Changing Needs
Alexandria: What challenges are your first-year students facing? What interested you in investing in large-scale membership to meet those challenges and support your students?
Tiffani: The emergence of the COVID-19 crisis made it more important than ever that our students felt connected to our institution, had access to someone who has been in their shoes who could help them navigate and steer them to our campus resources. We understood students felt isolated. Students were not on campus, they were learning remotely, so they didn't have the opportunity to have that unique first-year Tuskegee experience which is an essential building block to feeling connected to the Institution, campus, and other students. So Golden Tiger Mentor Collective came at the right time. 
Mentors helped mentees navigate the essential first-time on-campus things, such as finding where to get their ID badge to the best food spots. In addition, Golden Tiger Mentors fostered connection and a sense of belonging, which is valuable, especially at an HBCU. Golden Tiger Mentor Collective helps us accomplish that.
Early Intervention to Turn Academic Struggles to Academic Success
Alexandria: How have the insights gained through your mentorship program and the dashboard informed your Student Success interventions? How has the data revealed additional opportunities to support your students?
Tiffani: The partner dashboard is easy to navigate, and its simplicity makes it accessible across all formats.
Students rely on one another before they come to an administrator, so Golden Tiger Mentor Collective has served as another peer-to-peer service - mentees are supported by their peers. In addition, mentors can leverage campus resources, including myself and other leaders, to effectively support their mentees. It’s been helpful to see students logging conversations and flags, which we leverage to coordinate efforts across campus. For example, if the mentee flags the academic struggle, I can intervene and provide support - if that’s connecting with an academic advisor or chatting with instructors. Over 60% of our mentoring pairs have logged 3+ conversations which means are highly engaged. This says to me where we are fulfilling a need.
The matching breaks down students' worries about being connected to someone that doesn't align with what they identified as needing a mentor. The matching breaks down students' concerns about being connected to someone that doesn’t align with what they remembered. The profile data helps the mentoring pairs see similarities and what they want to accomplish. Then we can work together to get through.
Why Mentorship?
Alexandria: How important is connecting with other leaders to support the mentorship program?
Tiffani: I am proud of leveraging collaboration across the college to expand Golden Tiger Mentor Collective.
Initially, Golden Tigers were meant to support students from the College of Agriculture; however, through conversations with various campus leaders, we decided to expand our reach. So, we now serve first-year students across campus and at different colleges.
Alexandria: What do you hope is a student's experience in the Golden Tiger Mentorship program?
Tiffani: I hope that students see Golden Tiger Mentor Collective as a key to navigating their first year at Tuskegee, and it serves as a point of connection. Students make lifelong connections and can say hey, I went through this program, which helped me figure out odds and ends. They give it back in return. Suppose our students come across another student who feels isolated; they become a connection point and confidant.
Alexandria: Why do you champion mentorship, and why Mentor Collective?
Tiffani: Without my mentors, I would not be where I am. I promise you. I want to give that to other people…especially students. And career capital is essential and even more so for us as women of color, especially our students of color.
Check back for more from Mentor Collective’s Partner Appreciation Week, where we'll be celebrating more impact-first partners: Darren Ward from the University of Wisconsin-Stout, Brianne Neptin from the University of Rhode Island, and Nonzenzele Aldonza from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.