Mentoring Program Revamped as Get Connected Expands

As Get Connected continues to grow its membership, team leaders are preparing for the July launch of an enhanced mentoring program that will match experienced professionals with NABE members in earlier stages of their careers.

Get Connected continues to draw interest from new NABE members and from nonmembers alike, according to Chris Swann, team leader.  The number of those who have registered to be in touch with NABE through Get Connected stood at 223 as of late April.   Debbie Cason, also a team leader, reports that using the LinkedIn list for Get Connected, there are 306 in the network, although she notes there is some overlap.

At the March Economic Policy Conference, Get Connected sponsored a well-attended poster session, as well as a networking event then and in April at NABE’s Professional Development Seminar.

Mentoring Registration Will Be Open In July

Now in its second year, the mentoring program has generated considerable interest—among both mentors and mentees.   After reviewing the process for matching more experienced professionals as mentors with earlier career professionals as mentees, Get Connected team leaders decided to refine it by inviting members to apply at specified times – twice a year rather than on a continuous basis as it has been.

The first application period will begin in July and members interested in serving either as mentors or mentees will find applications and detailed information on the mentoring program pages.

Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, chief economist of Ford Motor Company and president of NABE in 2007-2008, is organizing the “mentor masters” to participate in this year’s program. “Our target is to have 50 mentors by the end of May and then we’ll be ready to go in July,” she said in late April, adding that she had already begun to contact members about serving as mentors.

Once mentors and mentees are matched, they will be asked to make a commitment to work together for four months and will be offered guidelines on how to develop a plan “to make it an actionable process,” according to Hughes-Cromwick, who brings experience as a mentor in her company’s program.  “It’s important to put limits on the arrangement,” although the two parties often choose to continue their discussions after the official mentoring period ends, she said.

Get Connected Sponsors Post Session

Get Connected once again pulled together a poster session for the Economic Policy Conference, reported Swann.  Co-sponsored by the NABE Foundation, the poster session brought six new research ideas front and center to the conference attendees. 

The Get Connected team, consisting of Greg Tenentes, Claudia Araiza, Leo-Rey Gordon, Bob Crow, Debbie Cason, and Swann, evaluated poster proposals and chose those with interesting economic content and with publication potential.  The posters generated a lot of interest and the presenters all felt that they got a good deal of exposure and feedback.

This year’s poster presenters were Maureen Dunne, Framingham State College; Daniel Bachman, Economics and Statistics Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce; Robert P. Yerex, Kronos Inc.; Heather Mauney, a graduate student from Florida State University; and Billy Leung, REMI.

Get Connected and the National Economists Club (NEC), the NABE chapter in Washington DC, co-sponsored a social networking event for members and attendees of this year’s Professional Development Seminar.  Tenentes, who is also responsible for special events at NEC, spearheaded the event.

Share: