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TU graduate programs are always looking for new ways to help our students make professional contacts prior to graduation and the Graduate Business department has started something particularly exciting: the TU Graduate Business Mentor Program. Launched in Fall of 2005, this program allows alumni of the TU Business College and Graduate Business program to volunteer their time as a mentor for new graduate students. Mentors are paired with students at the beginning or each semester and are given a formal agreement to determine the partnership objectives, the specific role of the mentor, meeting arrangements, and what venues they will use throughout the duration of their agreement.
As of Fall 2005, the program included 16 graduate students and 26 mentors from 23 different companies. The networking that the mentors have facilitated has been extremely helpful in job searches being done by the students while the mentors themselves have been given the opportunity to meet with future business colleagues. Some of the partnerships have been within the same company so that it has helped the student learn more about advancement opportunities where they currently work. In addition, it has given them visibility at levels the student might not have gotten otherwise. Partners who have been together from the previous semester that are staying together will share their thoughts with the new partners and are also asked to share some of the things they did to achieve the objectives of their partnership over the preview semester
An excellent example of this mutually beneficial partnership can be seen in the collaboration between Jake Dollarhide, CEO of Longbow Asset Management Company, and Jake Lewis, a current TU graduate student in the Master of Finance program. Jake Dollarhide received his undergraduate degree and MBA from TU and is an active member of the TU GBP Alumni Council, Friends of Finance Board, and the Tulsa Ballet Board. Volunteering as a mentor with the TU GBP Mentor program seemed like a natural extension of his other noteworthy activities and allowed Mr. Dollarhide the opportunity to help a fellow TU student lay the foundations for his own future in business. Mr. Dollarhide and Jake Lewis met often at Longbow Asset Management Company to discuss how to prepare for the opening of the markets, analyze stocks, make investment decisions, and summarize the day’s performance and activities after the markets closed.
Networking is also an important element of the program and Mr. Dollarhide helped Jake meet with other TU Business alumni over Spring Break, as a means of securing employment before graduate in May of 2006. In Houston, one of the people Jake Lewis met with was the Chief Financial Office of a major energy company, another TU GBP alumnus. His training sessions with Jake Dollarhide and professional networking helped Jake Lewis to secure employment within two months of graduation. The TU Graduate Business department hopes all of its students can profit from this Mentor program as Jake Lewis did and help to make sure that our students have a 100% placement by graduation every semester.
Considering the program’s success last year, it is only natural that the Graduate Business department would want to continue the program this year. The TU GBP Mentor Program Kickoff Reception was held on Wednesday, August 16th. Six (6) of the students remain with their mentor from last semester while twelve (12) additional students were matched with mentors and seven (7) more are in the process of being matched. Some alumni have volunteered to serve as mentors for the MBA Online and Master of Taxation programs and others to serve as “long-distant” mentors. Implementation of this will be considered for the future.
If you were unable to attend the Kickoff Reception and would like to receive information about the TU GBP Mentor Program, please contact Ron Cooper at ron-cooper@utulsa.edu or (918) 631-2680. |
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THE UNIVERSITY of TULSA |
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GRADUATE SCHOOL Newsletter
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