Mentoring rising engineers through leadership engagement: influencing a self-directed learning mindset

Mentoring rising engineers through leadership engagement: influencing a self-directed learning mindset.

This is a three-part course offered to faculty, industry mentors, current or aspiring managers, and leaders who are seeking to further develop their interpersonal effectiveness through participation with the College of Engineering at New Mexico State University in the mentoring of undergraduate engineering students. Each module focuses on a different component of serving rising engineers, by sharing the knowledge the mentor has gained throughout his or her academic and professional career. Completion of all three modules satisfies three hours of the professional development hours (PDH) necessary to recertify a professional engineering license with the New Mexico Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers & Professional Surveyors. This course builds the leadership and management capacity of the mentor towards satisfying the board’s PDH requirements. Participants who complete all three modules receive a micro credential from NMSU, reflecting their mastery of the mentoring, leadership and management topics.

The first course describes who can be a mentor and details some of the accepted best practices and tools to serve undergraduate engineering students in a mentoring capacity. Course 2 covers the theory and practice of self-directed adult learning, andragogy, and how mentorship can be a driver of success for adult learners. Finally, the third course brings the ideas developed in the first two courses together to demonstrate how a mentoring relationship naturally transitions the mentors into leadership and management roles.