Minority Mentor Program holds kickoff reception to celebrate program launch

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.—The new Penn State Law Minority Mentor Program held a reception on Saturday, Sept. 5, to welcome more than 20 first-year students who have enrolled in the program’s inaugural year and to honor the efforts of the alumni, students, faculty, and staff who brought the program to fruition.

The Minority Mentor Program was started this year to provide minority law students with support throughout their law school career. The program is open to all first-year law students who belong to a racial or ethnic minority group, are physically disabled, or identify as LGBTQ students.

“The Minority Mentor Program provides students with a unique opportunity to have a mentor in the legal profession for the duration of their law school experience,” says Shushan Sadjadi, a first-year student enrolled in the program. “The atmosphere at the reception was bubbling with excitement for this new and progressive program.”

Mentees will meet with their mentors at least three times during the academic year with the goal of acquiring the support necessary to meet the academic and emotional rigors that come with the study and practice of law.

In her capacity as faculty chair of Penn State Law’s diversity committee, Professor Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia developed the program in collaboration with administrators, faculty, staff, and alumnus Doyinsola Aribo ’13. Their efforts led to the program receiving a grant from Penn State’s Equal Opportunity Planning Committee, a unit within the Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity.

“This year, Penn State Law welcomed one of the most diverse classes in its history,” said Wadhia. “I am so pleased with student interest for this program. Even after the reception, more students applied to participate in the Minority Mentor Program. We cannot wait to connect them to their alumni and faculty mentors.”

For more information or to volunteer for the Minority Mentor Program, please contact Raynell Brown, adjunct professor of law and assistant director of student services, at 814-867-1261 or rub17@psu.edu.