History

With the use of lottery funds allocated by legislature the California State University Chancellor's office initiated the pilot program Faculty Mentor Program in January of 1987 at eight of the CSU campuses. During spring semester that same year, the program was implemented at Stanislaus under the administration of Fred Edmonson, Associate Vice President: Dean of students, with Dr. Fred Hilpert, professor of communication studies, as Coordinator.

The original list of potential student participants (protégés) was received from the EOP (Educational Opportunity Program). One hundred twenty names were identified as the target population. Eventually, through personal contact, written responses, and/or attendance at orientation sessions a total of 70 students volunteered to participate in the program. The Faculty Mentor Program provides faculty mentors and educational and recreational programs to first-generation and educationally, environmentally, or economically, disadvantaged students. Mentors must receive training before they are matched with student protégés.

From the beginning, the program has encouraged one-on-one interactions between the mentor and student protégé. This mentoring relationship improves academic achievement, increases the retention and graduation of underrepresented minority students, and develops a better faculty understanding of minority students. The faculty members originally selected as mentors were Tom Carter; Jay Christofferson, Pete Mayol; William Hayes; Dean Horace Judson; Ann Krabach; Susan Middleton-Keirn; Delo Washington; Tom Young; Gerald Nicholas, Fred Hilpert.