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Princeton Women's Mentorship Program: community of empowerment

The Princeton Women’s Mentorship Program was founded in the 2011-2012 school year — more than forty years after women were first admitted as undergraduate students to the University in 1969. The program was inspired by a March 2011 report by the Steering Committee onUndergraduate Women’s Leadership. Then-University President Shirley Tilghman created the committee in 2009 to explore the disparities between female and male undergraduates inside and outside the classroom and to understand how both perceive and achieve leadership and success. The 118-page report, which can be foundonline, concluded that women “consistently undersell themselves,” feel “pressured to behave in certain socially accepted ways,” are “outpacing men on our campus in academic achievement, except at the very highest levels” and ultimately “seek, and benefit from, affiliation with other women.”

Seeking to build and strengthen relationships between women on campus, thePrinceton Women’s Mentorship Programstarted with 81 undergraduate women in 2011, according to the program'swebsite. This number increased to 140 undergraduates in the 2012-2013 school year and 260 the following year. By the fall semester of 2014, the program had over 610 undergraduate, graduate, faculty, staff and alumni members.

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Current co-presidents Elizabeth Dolan ’16 and Olivia Robbins ’16 joined the mentorship program mainly for its missionto “actively engage in conversations about leadership on campus and beyond,” as stated on its website.

“I joined as a freshman because I thought it was a great way to meet other women I wouldn’t have otherwise had the chance to interact,” Robbins said.

Dolan saw the program as a more structured approach to engaging with upperclassmen."I was looking for mentors who I could ask questions relating topics such as course selection, social issues, and I felt like this was an organized way to do it,” she said.

These conversations and ability to network with other undergraduates have been some of the most valuable experiences for former co-president Carolyn Yang ’15.

“The structure we have used to pair up women in the program has changed over the years,” Yang said. “For me, just interacting with my pod, which consists of women across class years and campus affiliations, has really given me a support network outside my direct friend group.”

In addition to frequent interactions between undergraduates, the conversation is expanded through faculty members and administrators. The mentorship program is sponsored by the Women’s Center, the Office of the Dean of the College and the Office of Vice President for Campus Life, in addition to administrative sponsors Tara Christie Kinsey, associate dean, and Amada Sandoval, director of the Women’s Center.

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“For me, the best part about being a memberhas beenthe relationship with other team leadership members and the administrators that oversee the program,” Robbins said. “[The network with administrators such as] Associate Dean Tara Kinsey, Bruce Easop, who is a Leadership Fellow, has been useful — they have been able to give me feedback on my leadership abilities.”

Dolan expressed optimism about the program’s interaction with administration and faculty.“The interaction between faculty and administrators has been really interesting,” she said. “We have the ability to ask faculty members their advice in a non-academic setting and to hear their perspectives on different topics such as career development.”

An important aspect of the program’smission statementis to “empower women students to take on leadership roles and realize their full potential at Princeton and beyond.” The Women’s Mentorship Program aims to help undergraduate women on campus find their voices and inspires them to be confident women of promise.

“We want women on the campus to feel like they have a space where they can talk about their issues, worldly issues and any issues on our campus,” Yang said.

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“I personally would love to see every women on campus at least on our listserv,” Robbins added. “Our events are open to everybody. Ideally, I think, every woman should be part of the conversation.”