Mentori meetngMentoring

 

The OLLI mentoring program is designed to give our members opportunities to share their lifetime of knowledge and make a real difference in the lives of CSUF students. We support the University’s goals of helping students graduate on time and launch rewarding careers, serving diverse student populations, and integrating with the community at large. You may choose one-on-one mentoring for one semester or more or you may choose to mentor a team of students dedicated to a semester project that is guided by a faculty member.

Mentoring is a rewarding opportunity to engage with young people, form valuable relationships, and give back.

One to One Mentors

  • OLLI Mentors coach our Mentees in “soft skills” such as time management, working within teams, leadership, navigating a large campus, networking, presenting yourself well in a job interview, and so on. These are skills that are rarely taught, that many students lack, and that we have all developed in our careers. We are not subject-matter tutors; CSUF has many excellent resources to provide tutors and we can help our Mentees find them. For example, you don’t have to know a thing about engineering to teach these types of skills to an eager engineering student!

  • Your Mentee may be a traditional student who is just starting at CSUF, a student transferring from a Community College, or a student who is near graduation and looking to begin their career.

Group Mentors

OLLI mentors have generally been invited to work with advanced or graduate student teams and may work from 2 to 10 hours a week over a semester.

  • BUSINESS: OLLI mentors work with student teams who identify and recommend improvements to local small businesses (the businesses pay the University a consulting fee for the students’ work). One OLLI mentor worked with his team of students on their presentation for 5 hours on the Sunday before the team gave the presentation. The presentation went very well - the business owner accepted all the recommendations and asked if any of the students were interested in a part-time job.

  • BUSINESS: Other OLLI mentors helped students develop a business plan and start a small business based on that plan.

  • ENGINEERING: Over the course of a year, a student team with guidance from an OLLI mentor, developed a computer engineering product.