Mentor: a wise and trusted counselor (The Random House College Dictionary1984: 2, 835)

The purpose of the Western Division AFS Mentorship Program is to promote professionalism in students and entry-level biologists and technicians by providing an unbiased mentor to:

The guidance provided here is meant to be implemented at the Chapter level – WDAFS Membership Committee is simply serving as a conduit for ideas. These suggestions are intended to provide a framework -- there are numerous ways in which individual Chapters can customize a mentorship program.

Create a Chapter Mentorship Network

Since mentorship will be most effective at a local level, it is probably best implemented at the Chapter level. Your Chapter can facilitate mentorship by:

Encourage Participation

Fisheries biologists often have the great fortune to work with young, motivated individuals who are interested in a fisheries-related career. As supervisors, we can choose to have a purely employer-employee relationship with our young technicians, interns, and volunteers, or we can be MENTORS by creating an educational environment that offers opportunities for professional growth. A work environment that allows an apprenticeship will teach young biologists to be professionals, and will facilitate their advancement to the next career level. This type of working relationship has mutual benefits, as the success and advancement of both parties contributes to their professional development.

Successful mentorship is not limited to supervisors/employees. Sometimes a successful mentorship can be established between a professor and a student or a researcher and a new biologist or student who work for different organizations but perhaps have similar professional interests. Regardless of the official nature of the relationship, the mentorship will be successful if the criteria for good mentoring, described below, are met. The mentorship program should be open to everyone, but it may also serve as a vehicle to help diversify AFS membership to better reflect demographics by sponsoring underrepresented groups.

Provide Guidance to Mentors

Trust, communication, fairness, and professionalism are key elements characterizing a true mentorship. Because an imbalance in power exists, the apprentice must feel the mentor has the individual's best interests in mind and must feel a sense of professional contribution. Clarification of expectations by both parties regarding work performance, ethics, scheduling, availability, support, and products (e.g. reports), as appropriate, will help establish a mutually beneficial, trusting relationship. Through professional development opportunities such as public speaking, supervision, writing, problem solving, critical thinking, formal training, and interaction with other fishery professionals, aspiring biologists can develop critical skills for their professional future.

A good mentor will:

Encourage AFS Membership

One way you can mentor an individual's professional development is by educating them about the professional benefits of AFS membership and encouraging their active participation. Describe to them your experiences in AFS and inform them of membership benefits such as:

Another way to encourage your protégé is by sponsoring their first year membership with the AFS. Many young technicians, students and interns are unaware of AFS or are on a shoestring budget and consider annual dues prohibitive. (See the related Western Division announcement on the Sponsorship Program.) Simply fill out the membership form with the individual's name and address and send it in with payment for their annual dues.

One of the primary missions of AFS is to promote professionalism in fisheries science. The Mentorship Program will help us to meet that mission.

This program is patterned after a program initiated in 1999 by the Alaska Chapter, originally conceived by Carol Ann Woody.