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Spring, Sophomore Year

The first component of the Scholars IRP is the "Mentor Designation”. This page specifies:

1. what is expected of students;
2. how work on this component is evaluated;
3. how students designate their mentors;
4. how students and prospective mentors are notified whether a “Mentor Designation” has been approved.

Follow these links to learn:

• the deadline for student submissions of the “Mentor Designation Form” (see below);
• the date when students and prospective mentors are notified as to whether a Mentor Designation has been approved; and
• why this notification matters; what consequences it has for students.

1. Expectations

A student’s mentors are the faculty members who assist her throughout the Interdisciplinary Research Project. For students, the first step is to decide which faculty members they would like to work with and to ask them for their assistance. In order to have a faculty member recognized as an IRP mentor, a student must acquire his or her signature on the Mentor Designation Form. Click here for a link to that form.

Mentors can be full– or part-time faculty. In order to serve as a student’s mentor, a faculty member must possess expertise in one of the two disciplines the student will use in her project. If, for example, a student wishes to undertake a project involving Psychology and History, she needs to ask one faculty member who is expert is Psychology and one faculty member who is expert in History to serve as her mentors.

Faculty members are of course expert within the disciplines in which they hold their academic appointments (e.g., a faculty member who is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry is an expert in Chemistry, etc.). Many faculty members also possess expertise in other disciplines besides the one in which they hold an appointment (e.g., a Religious Studies professor may be an expert in History, etc.).

Numerous faculty members have served as mentors in recent years; click here for a partial list. Service as a faculty mentor is time-consuming and unremunerated. A faculty member may be serving at one time as a mentor to a number of Sophomore Scholars, Junior Scholars, and Senior scholars. In light of this, it is to be expected that faculty members will at times decline to serve as a student’s mentor. Such a refusal does not of course express any judgment on the character or academic abilities of the student declined.

Students are urged to choose their mentors wisely. Although many students request help from faculty members with whom they have already worked together in class, others request help from faculty members with whom they have never studied. Students are urged to seek help from those mentors who have the most expertise in their chosen disciplines, and not to be shy about meeting new professors.

2. Evaluation
The Scholars Director evaluates a student’s work on “Mentor Designation” as satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

Satisfactory work on this component includes:
submission of a completed Mentor Designation Form, including the signatures of the prospective mentors and all other required information, by the due date (click here for that date).

 
3. Student Submission Procedure

By noon on the due date, students are required to submit the Mentor Designation Form to three people:

• the Scholars Assistant (original form);
• his or her Primary Mentor (copy); and
• his or her Secondary Mentor (copy).

The original form should be handed to the Scholars Assistant or placed in her office mailbox located in Kindlon Hall 158 (within the History, Philosophy, & Religious Studies office suite).

The two copies should be placed within the office mailboxes of their respective mentors.

Students are also required to send an e-mail confirming their submission of the form to three people:

• the Scholars Program Assistant;
• his or her Primary Mentor; and
• his or her Secondary Mentor.

Students must state their full names in the e-mail as well as the names of their prospective mentors (“Today I placed my completed Mentor Designation Form in the office mailboxes of my mentors and the Scholars Assistant. My mentors are Prof. Aldrich and Prof. Chen. —Jane Doe”).

Both the form and the e-mail are due by noon on the due date. Click here for the due date. Failure to submit IRP Notes by the deadline is grounds for dismissal from the Program;
click here for further information.

Students with questions or concerns about this submission procedure are asked to contact the Scholars Assistant.

4. Notification

The Scholar Director evaluates work on this project within two weeks of the submission deadline. The criteria governing evaluation are specified above (see § 2 above).

The Program contacts proposed mentors individually to confirm their willingness to serve. If a student’s Mentor Designation is approved, the names of his mentors will be added the master Mentor List for his class. Click here for a link to this list.

If a student earns a grade of Unsatisfactory for his work on Mentor Designation, he will be notified via e-mail. He is entitled to submit a new Mentor Designation Form for a second evaluation, according to a defined procedure.

Click here for information for the procedures governing Unsatisfactory first submissions.

If a student earns a second grade of Unsatisfactory for his work on Mentor Designation, or fails to submit the form as required, he may be dismissed from the Scholars Program.