Protégés connect with mentors at the 2007 Mentoring Event during the AACC International Annual Meeting.

Applications for the 2008 Mentoring Program are now being taken. The deadline for applications is July 1, 2008; participants will be sent information about their match in August.

Members are making a connection through the mentoring program! Read an article from the March/April CEREAL FOODS WORLD. 

The AACC International Mentoring Program is designed to foster relationships between experienced members (mentors) and those with less professional experience (protégés). The Mentoring Program is a function of AACC International's Professional Development Panel (PDP).

The mentoring program provides valuable benefits to the protégé, including:

•  Help with career development
•  Individual recognition and encouragement
•  Honest criticism and feedback
•  Advice from someone with more experience on a variety of subjects
•  Exposure to a new level of professional contacts and possible employment

Become a protégé

In addition to the satisfaction that comes with helping someone advance, mentors receive a number of benefits, including:

• Individual recognition, encouragement and feedback
• A perspective on the professional activities of someone less experienced
• Often an insight into a basic research program
• Exposure to a new level of professional contacts and possible employees

Become a mentor

Suggested Activities for Protégés and Mentors

Interact in whatever way makes sense but interact frequently.

Many mentor-protégé pairs may not be located where it is convenient to interact directly. However, being together at the AACC International annual meeting may be a possibility and the myriad of activities associated with it would afford an excellent venue to establish and maintain a relationship. E-mails, phone calls, and letters are all primary means of communication and should be engaged at least every couple of weeks.

So…what are good subjects for discussion and what are some good things to do to foster a mentoring relationship? Here are a few ideas:

• Talk about the things on your information sheets.
• Discuss the mentor’s career path.
• Discuss the protégés career aspirations and how the mentor might help.
• Serve on an AACC International committee or panel together.
• Discuss the companies, universities and government laboratories in the food industry and the people you know that work in each.
• Find out about research programs in the companies, universities and government laboratories.
• Network with other mentor-protégé pairs.
• Evaluate new trends in grain-based products.
• Discuss the protégé’s current activities.
• Read CFW and Cereal Chemistry articles of interest and discuss them by phone or e-mail.
• Collaborate on something where you have a common interest.
• Share information on your hobbies.

Program participants will be sent information about the person with whom they have been matched in August. Mentors and protégés will have a chance to meet in person at a special breakfast during the annual meeting in September, but mentors and protégés are encouraged to introduce themselves over the phone or Internet prior to the annual meeting. Mentors and protégés from previous years are also welcome to attend the breakfast. You need not attend the annual meeting in order to participate in this program. Mentors and protégés should continue to interact by whatever means is suitable for each pair.

Fill out the online form to become a mentor or a protégé. (PDFs of the mentor or protégé forms are also available.) Applications will be taken through July 1, 2008.

For more information on this program, please contact Bill Atwell, Mentoring Program chair, at +1.952.238.4890 or bill_atwell@cargill.com.