The Office of the Chief Information Officer and Enterprise Information Technology Services recently marked the first anniversary of its mentorship program.
Launched in 2009, the program is grounded in a unified belief that mentoring is a powerful tool for personal, professional and organizational growth, according to Charles Leggett, an IT senior manager in EITS and chairperson during the program’s first year.
“The mentorship program is happy to celebrate its first full year of existence and is looking forward to continuing to bring individuals together from throughout the organization to facilitate the cross-sharing of experience, ideas and insights,” said Leggett.
Twice a year, the department’s Mentorship Council works with volunteer mentors and protégés drawn from staff in OCIO and EITS. Individuals are paired in two-person teams for a six-month mentorship partnership. During this time, the mentorship pairs work together to develop the protégés’ leadership, interpersonal or technical skills as well as to achieve individual personal and professional objectives.
Mentor-protégé pairs from the most recent cycle were recognized in a staff meeting earlier this semester for the OCIO and EITS. Those receiving certificates of program participation were: Greg Ashley, Sriman Ravi, Ilir Hasko, Mark Zimmer, Tammy Pounds, Jennifer Hudson, Elisa Coulter, Joel Sorrow, Patrick Wagman, Linda Rogers, Shannon Marable, Rachel Moorehead, Kate Camfield and Jeannie McElhannon.
“The Office of the CIO and EITS have developed the framework for a workforce development strategy, and a key component of that strategy is our mentorship program,” said Greg Topp, director of information technology and planning support for EITS. “We understood that we have a diversity of knowledge and skill sets across the organization. We wanted some way to encourage the organization to share that with one another. The mentorship program is the perfect opportunity to do that.”
