The department's mentoring program has generously been funded by alumna Lynne Killgore and her husband Dave Michel, both of whom keenly recognize the value of mentoring, especially for first time-in-college and first-generation college students. In hopes of giving students the best chance for success in attaining a college degree, they have worked closely with the department to configure a mentoring program and to fund scholarships for those participating in that program.

All student participants in this program, both selected mentees and peer mentors, will receive a $1500 award, with $750 payable in the fall semester and $750 payable in the spring for those in compliance with program requirements, which are discussed below.

Program requirements: Mentees and peer-mentor coaches who are chosen to participate in the mentoring program must participate in the following, with attendance recorded:

• Six monthly mentoring-pod meetings during the academic year: These meetings will be set up by the department. There will be three meetings in the fall (September, October, & November) and three meetings in the spring (February, March, & April). The meetings will be held in the Sociology Conference Room, either Sycamore Hall 201A or 202. The meetings will be on the first Wednesday of the month at noon, and the department will provide lunch. Students will need to protect this date and time when registering for classes. These will be working-lunch meetings where students can discuss any challenges that they are facing in college.

• Six mentoring activities during the academic year, three in the fall semester and three in the spring semester. At each monthly mentoring-pod meeting, the group will select a successful-transition activity for that month. They can choose from a list of options provided by the department or come up with ideas of their own. All members of the group must participate in the chosen successful-transition activity. The group will meet in the Department of Sociology's Suite (Sycamore 288) to sign-in before heading out to participate in the chosen activity.

Here are some examples of the success-transition group activities in which the mentoring pod might choose to participate:

-- attend an event/program at the First-generation Success Center (Union 376)

-- visit the UNT Writing Center

-- visit with Lily Ramin, librarian at UNT Libraries (first-year experience coordinator)

-- visit the UNT Math Lab (Sage Hall)

-- visit the UNT Food Pantry & School Supply Pantry

-- visit the Student Money Management Center (Chestnut Hall)

-- attend an event/program at the Multi-Cultural Center (Union 335)

-- participate in the Learning 101 workshop offered by the Learning Center (Sage Hall)

-- attend an Academic Skills workshops offered by the Learning Center

-- attend a career-planning workshop at the Career Center (Sage Hall)

-- participate in a Take Flight mentoring talk, such as Time Management

In sum, there are a total of twelve meetings/activities per academic year in which all recipients of mentoring-program scholarships must participate: Six monthly mentoring-pod "working lunches" and six success-in-college activities. While there are alternative ways to make up for an absence, which you can discuss with the department staff member who coordinates the mentoring program or with the mentoring-pod faculty sponsor, these alternatives are not optimal since the mentoring program is set up to be a group experience. Therefore, students who miss more than one of the required meetings/ activities in the fall will risk having their spring scholarship award cancelled. Any student who misses more than two of the required meetings/activities for the academic year will be ineligible to apply subsequently for a scholarship to serve as a peer-mentor coach in the mentoring program.