Content provided by Wolfram Lunscher
The afternoon of Friday, 1 November 2024, marked the launch of Region 7’s Group Mentoring Initiative (GMI) pilot in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The late Terry Branch, former R7 Life Members Coordinator, planned this event all year. It was the third R7 event this year promoting the initiative (with the previous ones being September 15 at the IEEE Canada Student Congress in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and the October 10 Hamilton section online 15th-anniversary celebration of IEEE Day).
Formal Introduction for Group Mentoring
The pilot marked the formal introduction of the Group Mentoring concept before a live target audience of university and community college students and was presented by the full scope of envisioned IEEE mentors: Young Professionals (YP), Women in Engineering (WIE), Senior Members, and Life Members. The pilot was a session within Ottawa’s Student Professional Awareness Conference, run by Ottawa’s three IEEE student chapters and sponsored by the Ottawa section and local industry. 150 students registered for the event, and numerous other professionals from the industry participated, bringing the total number of attendees to about 200. IEEE life members contributed funds from R7, IEEE LMC, and the Ottawa Section’s LMAG budget to provide refreshments, which were highly appreciated.
Life Members table staffed by Ottawa LMAG chair Wolfram Lunscher
The event was divided into a networking area and a presentation area. The networking area included industry and IEEE exhibits. Among the IEEE exhibits was an LMAG table using the tablecloth and table topper to showcase life membership benefits and to promote our mentorship initiative. The presentation area hosted the opening keynote and conference sessions.
The enthusiasm of the audience at our table was palpable, with many expressing a keen interest in hosting future mentorship events at their local universities. In the presentation area, Nima Javanbakht, Ottawa Section YP chair, introduced the Group Mentoring Initiative during the opening keynote, presenting its history from Terry Branch’s Knowledge-Based Community concept through to its merger with Howard Wolfman’s global Group Mentoring Initiative at the Austin Life Members Conference in April this year; and outlining its goal of sharing the experience of Life members and other working professionals with students to advance their career and education choices.
Empowering Students: Group Mentoring Panel
Nima Javanbakht introduced the Group Mentorship Initiative during the keynote.
Later that afternoon, we held the “Empowering Students: Group Mentoring Panel” session before a live audience. The panel was a diverse mix of seven individuals, each bringing a unique perspective to the discussion. It included moderator Afsoon Alidadi Shamsabadi, Ottawa Section WIE chair; Janet Davis, former Ottawa Section chair; Winnie Ye, Global WIE chair-elect; Azfar Adib, R7 Regional Student Representative; Moha Abbaszadeh, Hamilton Section WIE chair, Nima Javanbakht Ottawa Section YP chair, and Wolfram Lunscher, Ottawa Section Life Members chair.
The session began with a summary of Terry Branch’s vision for the mentoring initiative, which included its principal goal of empowering students to make sound educational and career choices. To that end, the panel provided reflections on our own career experiences. To focus the discussion, moderator Afsoon Alidadi Shamsabadi directed three prepared questions to the panel:
- What common challenges do early-career professionals face, and how can students prepare for them? Please share any challenges you encountered when you began your first job and how you overcame them.
- Did you experience a steep learning curve in your first job after graduation, and if so, how did you cope?
- What makes a successful leader? How do you teach leadership and inspire others to become good leaders?
The panel session was well attended, and the positive feedback we received was overwhelming. It was a testament to the success and impact of the event.
> Learn more about the Group Mentoring Initiative
