The Economics Undergraduate Mentorship Program is in full swing for the 2022-2023 academic year. We are proud to have 49 mentors volunteering their time to connect with students this year, including UW Economics alumni from the graduating classes of 1972 to 2022. Many mentors work with multiple students, allowing us to accept 76 Economics majors as mentees this year. Our students and mentors represent a wide range of professional and academic areas of focus, including investment banking, data science, health economics, and more.
Our mentorship program began in 2010 with the leadership of Walt Zabriskie (1950-2017), a longtime member of the Economics Visiting Committee and proud UW Econ alumnus, in response to calls from students for increased alumni engagement. His work in setting up the program paved the way for the robust participation we see today. Many of our mentors that began in 2010 with Walt have stayed with the program each year and celebrated its 11th anniversary with us at the kickoff.
Our kickoff event commenced with remarks from Outreach Director and Professor Jacques Lawarree and longtime mentor and Economics Visiting Committee Member Jeff Lewis. Jeff’s advice to mentees? Work the program to your advantage. He highlighted the importance of relationship-building and networking, drawing on his own experience with mentees that he has kept in contact with over the years and worked with them on job applications and career advice. Mentees and mentors in attendance were able to get to know each other and other program participants. Everyone was challenged to connect with two new people by the end of the evening, which proved successful!
The Economics Undergraduate Mentorship Program is made possible by the generous support of our volunteer mentors. If you are interested in connecting with Economics undergraduates and working with them as they prepare to transition from academic to professional life, being a mentor is the role for you. Please contact Outreach Manager Madison Girard at magirard@uw.edu if you are interested.