MPMA’s Mentor Program Pairs Emerging Museum Professionals with Experienced Museum Professionals.

Why have a Mentor Program?

It strengthens our museum community and forges strong bonds between individuals. A mentor program is important for other reasons:

• It helps to ease the awkward moments we all experience upon entering the museum profession. Remember how we didn’t know anyone at our first conference, we didn’t know the “dress code” and we didn’t know who to call when we stumbled over projects at work.
• A mentor helps new professionals become confident members of the museum community.
• A mentoree reminds the experienced professional of the “good ol’ days” and the excitement and wonderment of starting something new.
• A mentor and mentoree can become lifelong friends.
• Mentors and mentorees are matched according to similar job responsibilities or areas of interest.

Once individuals are paired together, the arrangement is informal and can be whatever works for each match. Phone calls, emails and other exchanges of information as well as arrangements to meet at meetings are some of the ways mentors and mentorees can come together.

A new professional can be matched with a museum professional at any time. Just fill out the application below and MPMA will begin the matching process.

MPMA’s Mentor Chair is Kathrine Schlageck, Education and Public Services Supervisor at the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Manhattan, Kansas. She can be reached by phone at 785-532-7718, by fax at 785-532-7498, or by email at klwalk@ksu.edu.

MPMA Mentor & Mentoree Application PDF