Mentoring Program FAQ's

The College of Health and Human Development Mentoring Program connects HHD students and alumni by matching students who are juniors in their academic department with professionals in their field(s) of interest who can offer advice and information about career options or other issues relevant to particular fields. 

The mentoring program begins with an initial orientation and goal setting face-to-face meeting, followed by 16 months of ongoing interactions as students can explore course choices, internship opportunities, and post graduation plans with their mentor. 

2021 Mentoring Program Time Table 

September 2020- Application opens 

October 2020- Review of applications 

November/December 2020 -Match notifications are sent 

February 2021- Program orientation event 

The mentoring program takes time and effort from both the student and mentor. It is expected students and mentors will communicate at LEAST once a month. There are no set milestones in this program, but the effort you put into this program is what you will get out of it. 

Before applying for the mentoring program, mentors and students must be able to attend the mentoring kickoff event that corresponds with their major or degree. If you cannot attend the kickoff event please contact Mentoring Program Coordinator, Brooke Owen at b.owen@psu.edu 

Mentors and students are matched based on the information they submit in their application. Our office then carefully matches student intentions based on:  job position, workplace setting, experience, and professional development skills they hope to learn. 

The mentoring program is open to all alumni of the College of Health and Human Development, as well as Penn State alumni working in HHD-related fields. We have many mentors who are not working in the industry of their degree major.

For example, a hospitality management alumni mentor who is now working in medical device sales.  

If you are studying abroad please email Mentoring Program Coordinator, Brooke Owen at b.owen@psu.edu for how you should proceed. 

The application for mentors requires information such as degree, graduation year, continuing education degrees, career summary and  work history. 

The student application requires basic academic information, career interests, relevant experience, and a letter of intent. 

The HHD Mentoring Program application  is open to students with junior academic standing in beginning of the fall 2020 semester. The application can be found on the College of Health and Human Development website. 

The HHD Mentoring Program application is open at the beginning of the fall semester on the Health and Human Development website. HHD alumni or Penn State alumni working in a HHD related field are eligible to apply.

We do our best to match students and mentors based on the information provided in the applications, however sometimes two people just do not "click."  Please contact Mentoring Program Coordinator, Brooke Owen at b.owen@psu.edu to discuss the situation. 

Yes, if you are in a position where you are able to offer an internship to your mentee, it is very much encouraged. Please note, students are aware, the mentoring program is not an internship, or a job placement program, but if an internship or job opportunity arises please kindly inform Mentoring Program Coordinator, Brooke Owen b.owen@psu.edu

Students should also coordinate internships with their respective internship coordinator. 

If it is feasible by both the mentor and student, mentors are encouraged to invite their mentee to shadow them in their workplace. Shadowing is NOT a requirement of the mentoring program. Students and mentors should inform Brooke Owen at b.owen@psu.edu if the student plans to shadow. 

Travel and associated expenses are the student's responsibility.