Mentorship is not a program or a checkbox. At its core, it's the decision to see and nurture potential in others before they see it in themselves. This session invites faculty, staff, and student instructors to explore mentorship not as a supplemental practice, but as a foundational pedagogy. It aims to clarify how mentorship can become central to teaching, offering participants practical methods and concepts for embedding mentorship into everyday educational practices. Drawing on years of curriculum design, community development, and work with first-generation students at Georgetown University, presenter Donovan W. Forrest will facilitate an honest, practical, and deeply human conversation about what it means to teach with mentorship at the center.
Participants will examine the barriers that prevent mentorship in academic settings, time, hierarchy, cultural distance, and institutional design, and will leave with concrete strategies to address them. The session will help attendees identify challenges, share solutions, and develop personalized mentorship approaches. Through storytelling, reflection, and peer exchange, participants will see how reaching back to unseen or underprepared students generates momentum for the whole learning community.
This session is designed for anyone who has ever wondered whether they are doing enough for the students who need them most. The intended audience includes faculty across disciplines, academic support staff, advisors, and student instructors, anyone who influences a learner's trajectory, whether they call themselves a mentor or not.
For Donovan W. Forrest, MPA, the true strength of an educator lies in making individuals feel seen and then illuminating what's possible for them.That belief has sustained his career. As Elective Faculty at Georgetown University's Center for Multicultural Equity and Access, he designed... Read More →
Monday May 18, 2026 2:30pm - 3:30pm EDT Zoom Virtual Session(Zoom links can be found under each session's description.)
