The AWG Board of Directors is pleased to offer members an opportunity to test-drive the AWG Peer Mentoring Project that was conceived at the 2003 AWG Convention in Seattle. We hope you will help shape this program by participating in this pilot The goals of AWG to Encourage, Exchange and Enhance are accomplished by programs on many levels of the educational pipeline and by the benefit of networking within AWG. However, many members belong to AWG at-large, and the geographic area of many local chapters in the organization also precludes attendance at chapter functions on a frequent basis. We saw a need to connect members with similar interests for networking, coaching and mentoring relationships. While there is a need to recruit mentors who have been successful in the higher levels of our profession, each of us has practical everyday experience that we can use to help each other. Sharing the skills and experience gained at the working level of our profession is what we are calling peer mentoring.

The AWG Peer Mentoring project committee includes Elizabeth Pottorff, Denver Chapter; Grace Castellini and Heidi Hoffower, Lone Star Chapter; Eloise Kendy and Norma Castañeda, Rocky Mountain Region Delegates; KT Moran, South Central Delegate; Susan Nissen, Central Delegate; and Ruth Hopkins, Adult Mentoring Specialist.

We are looking forward to helping you learn about mentoring as you help us refine and improve our mentoring program so that it becomes a benefit AWG can offer our membership on a regular basis.

The AWG Peer Mentoring center includes a participant registration and partnership matching processes, a library containing many articles specific to mentoring women, activity suggestions, self assessment tools for learning, listening and communication styles. And, for those who would like to share their mentoring experiences the site includes a group discussion area where participants can join in a discussion or initiate a new discussion . We invite you to contact us at AWG_info@gulfcreek.com with suggestions and comments about this site.

© Copyright,2008