Women in International Relations: Mentee Training Session by Ellie Murphy (A’22)

by cpinkerton
Nov 20

On Wednesday, November 13, Tufts Women in International Relations (WIIR) held its first Mentee Training Session.

The Mentee Training Session was open to all Tufts undergraduate students interested in attending. However, the event was specifically designed for the students accepted into our mentorship program in coordination with Fletcher Women in Business. Our mentorship program provides Tufts undergraduates who are interested in International Relations with the opportunity to connect with a Fletcher graduate student. We hope that the students participating in the program will receive advice on graduate school, career paths, and other topics having to do with International Relations.

Considering that this is the first year of the program, we wanted to ensure that it is a success by hosting a “Mentee Training Session”.  The purpose was to go over expectations and provide advice on how to make the most out of having a Fletcher student as a mentor. 

During the event, the co-president of WIIR, Haruka Noishiki, and our Events Team Deputy, Emily McMullen, explained the expectations of mentees participating in the program. Noishiki and McMullen identified key characteristics that would create a successful mentor-mentee relationship. Some of these elements include communication, honesty, and a clear idea of the goals of the relationship.

After the slideshow presentation, mentees who came to the training session were split into groups of two or three to go over goals that they had for the program and ways they could potentially achieve those goals. After this, WIIR finished off the event with a Question and Answer Session to address any other concerns that students might have.

We hope to continue to hold this event in the future because it not only benefits the mentees, but anyone hoping to be involved in any sort of program where they have a mentor. Students were able to engage with one another and identify important aspects of a mentorship that make the relationship successful.