Faculty mentors provide academic supervision of the Connecting Experience. Your mentor will meet with you before your experience, maintain regular contact throughout the semester, assist you with new concepts and skills, help you make connections to your BDP topic, and assign your final grade.
Reflect on what you want in a faculty mentor
- Consider how much guidance you need — do you want a faculty mentor who will check in with you weekly and quickly respond to every email? Do you want someone who is a little more hands-off?
- Think about what kind of expertise you are looking for — discipline-specific? Related to BDP topic in general? Skills-based? Practical vs. theoretical knowledge?
- Use our faculty mentor worksheet for internship (PDF) or research (PDF) to guide you
Search for a faculty mentor
- Consider previous or current course instructors
- Talk to your BDP advisor
- Search the BDP faculty panel of your certificate
- Network at on-campus events, lectures, or presentations
- Search department websites
- Use EUREKA
Contact a potential faculty mentor
- Research the professor’s interests and background
- Craft an email that briefly describes your project and ask to meet
- Meet with the professor and discuss your interests, goals, and questions
- Be prepared to discuss your planned experience the help you will need
- Review our tips and sample letters illustrating how to email professors
Tips for emailing professors
- Be brief, respectful, and demonstrate your interest in the faculty’s expertise
- Use “Professor” as the title when addressing the faculty member
- Introduce yourself, mentioning your major and BDP
- State how you found the professor
- Briefly describe your project
- Suggest a meeting to discuss your project, academic interests, and what it would mean to be your faculty mentor
Here are a few sample emails to give you an idea of how to present yourself professionally to faculty: