EVALUATORS’ OBSERVATIONSWalmart MSI Mentor/Mentee Project

AIHEC Schools – The Context

Small Institutions

Isolated locations

Mentor/ Mentee Schools

Relationship of equals

Learning Community

All schools benefited from project

Increased engagement of college staff and faculty in retention

Larger more inviting learning centers

Added retention staffing and advising practices

Mentor schools – improved and tightened their current programs

Mentee schools took ideas and applied them to their own settings

Strong evidence of institutional changes, especially in mentee schools

What were important elements?

Site visits to mentor and mentee institutions

MSI meetings -provided planning time

Seeing the LRC as a welcoming place chocked full of small to large resources

Getting ideas to adapt to own setting

Building relationships – know who to call

Witnessing the culture of the students and people

Take away lessons

Learning community – not hierarchical relationships

Use different terms – perhaps Elder, rather than Mentor

TCUs value opportunity to meet peers at other schools

Heartening to see large and small schools have similar challenges

Hearing speakers, meeting others who care was inspiring and energizing

Retention efforts improving across all institutions