Penn State Law launching mentoring program for minority students

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State Law is launching a new mentoring program for minority students with the help of a matching grant from Penn State's Equal Opportunity Planning Committee.

Set to begin with students entering Penn State Law in fall 2015, the Minority Mentor Program aims to provide minority students with an inclusive and welcoming climate by pairing law students with faculty and alumni mentors.

“We’ve structured this program to help foster more significant relationships between our minority students and mentors on our faculty and among our alumni and friends,” says Interim Dean James W. Houck. “The goal is to put our students in touch with professionals who have been in the students’ shoes to provide them with more meaningful guidance and support.”

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.

Penn State Law alumna Doyinsola Aribo helped to develop the mentoring program with Clinical Professor Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, chair of the Penn State Law Diversity Committee.

“As a former student, I see this program having a very positive impact on the academic success and general well-being of our minority students,” Aribo says. “I was delighted to help get it off the ground and look forward to being a mentor to our students in the future.”

Funds for the program are being provided by Penn State Law and the University’s Equal Opportunity Planning Committee.  Housed in the Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity, the mission of the Equal Opportunity Planning Committee is to promote greater equity for historically underrepresented groups within the University and/or those groups that have been historical targets of discrimination. The committee awards annual grants through a competitive application and review process.

For more information on the EOPC, please visit: http://equity.psu.edu/eopc