Any UPCEA member. Check to see if your institution is a member. 

After attending the information session or watching the recording, members who are interested in participating in the program will complete a short interest form indicating whether they would like to be a mentor or a mentee. Soon thereafter, those interested will receive an email with a registration link to sign-up for the program. Mentees will need to complete the registration process and matching survey, while mentors also need to complete mentor training. Mentors and mentees will be matched upon the completion of onboarding.

Fill out the application form by January 15, 2026.

For more details, see the Mentorship Experience Timeline & Key Dates section.

The application period will be closed. However, you can send us a message at [email protected] if you would like to be included in the next cohort.

The mentorship duration is six months, with an estimated time commitment of 1 ½ hours +/- per month. Mentors and mentees are expected to meet (in whatever way that works best for them - phone, text, videochat, in-person, etc.) at least once a month.

There will be an onboarding session and additional on-demand training provided in the Mentor Collective platform.

A mentor/mentee toolkit is also provided during the orientation session which includes action plan worksheet, strategies for effective conversations, mentor/mentee partnership agreement, meeting checklist and other helpful resources to ensure a successful mentoring experience.

Mentors and mentees will be required to complete a matching survey during the onboarding process. As mentors and mentees complete their onboarding process, Mentor Collective will match mentors and mentees based off the responses in the matching survey, prioritizing the mentees' preferences in a mentor.

Once the application process closes, the Mentor Collective process matches participants based on shared interests, experiences and preferences. See Timeline for more details. 

See the Timeline for details.

Yes. UPCEA’s goal is to support individuals to find mentors to provide professional development. Once paired, mentors and mentees will establish mutually agreeable boundaries for the relationship. In the event a mentee’s challenges are outside the mentor’s realm of expertise and/or comfort, that should be identified enabling the mentor/mentee to re-focus.

Mentor-mentee discussions should focus on professional development. During the onboarding session, resources will be provided to guide mentors/mentees in framing these conversations.

Here are a few examples. We will also delve into this topic during the orientation session.

• What’s the best advice you can give to help plan a career rather than simply work to keep a job?
• How do you encourage innovative ideas?
• How would you describe your personal style?
• Do you have a mentor? How have they influenced you?
• What do you do to constantly challenge your underlying beliefs and assumptions?

No, participants will need to select between being a mentor or a mentee during each program cycle.

Yes, mentees can sign-up to be a mentor during the next program cycle. Mentors will be required to complete mentor training prior to being matched with a mentee/s.

If you feel that you have gained what you need from your mentor, you can close the relationship prior to the six-months, however, we strongly urge you to consider establishing new goals.

Both mentors and mentees can reach out to the Mentor Collective helpdesk ([email protected]) to request a rematch if they don't feel like they click with their match.

Mentors and mentees can work together to determine the best days/times as well as the best method to meet with their counterpart. Hopefully, this flexibility will allow the pair to meet with minimal schedule conflicts.

Yes. Mentor Collective gives mentors and mentees opportunities to share their experiences participating in the program via qualitative quotes and video testimonials (optional); however, the MC program is not designed to have mentors and mentees evaluate each other. UPCEA is welcome to deploy a mentor/mentee evaluation process outside of the MC platform.

That will be up to the mentor/mentee partnership to decide. Many mentoring relationships continue on, informally, after the official program ends. One suggestion is to keep in touch with each other and check in regularly. This can be done via emails, apps, messages or phone.

Please reach out to us and we would be happy to assist!

Yes! Please contact us and we'd be happy to help hold your name for future mentorship opportunities.

Yes! Please encourage them to check out the program on the website.

You should be considered to have expertise in your field and the field the mentee is hoping to become an expert in. That being said, it is still possible for a mentor not to be an expert in the area the mentee is working in, but it is preferred.

Membership in UPCEA. Become a member now. 

Yes. Mentoring is a two-way developmental experience. For the mentor, it should be seen as an enriching relationship. The main purpose of the relationship is to assist with the mentee’s specified goal(s); there is an opportunity for mentors to identify their own development opportunities through the mentoring relationship. For example, a mentor can set a goal of improving his or her “Grows Others” competency as they consider advancement into a senior leadership role. Or, more specifically, the mentor could seek to improve skills in providing constructive feedback.

In the event a mentee’s challenges are outside the mentor’s realm of expertise and/or comfort, that should be identified and communicated enabling the mentor/mentee to re-focus.

Any UPCEA member who is entry-mid-level career, or someone interested in a change of role within higher ed seeking career/leadership mentorship/guidance from a more experienced professional.