Women's Mentoring Network revamped with DSG help

One of the Women's Mentoring Network's faculty advisors, Kim McCrae, is a staff member at the Women's Center. Stephanie Helms Pickett, the director of the center, spoke at WMN's first meeting.
One of the Women's Mentoring Network's faculty advisors, Kim McCrae, is a staff member at the Women's Center. Stephanie Helms Pickett, the director of the center, spoke at WMN's first meeting.

Women on campus have access to a new peer-mentoring system in the revamped Women's Mentoring Network.

Following through on a campaign promise from the Spring, leaders of Duke Student Government have partnered with WMN to overhaul the program and increase its visibility. DSG President Lavanya Sunder, a junior, and Molly Walker, a junior and DSG director of gender equity, have started a partnership with WMN to utilize DSG’s resources and connections to the student body in order to improve the network.

WMN President Bo Peng, a senior, explained that the goal of the networking group is to give women a sense of belonging in the Duke community.

"People coming to college are very confused in terms of, ‘Oh, where do I belong socially? Where do I belong academically?’ And it’s a very confusing period of time," Peng said.

The main change to the network is the implementation of the pod system, modeled after Princeton’s mentoring program. In past years, underclassmen could be partnered with upperclassmen in a traditional mentor-mentee style. Now, participants are placed into pods of four or five women who share academic or career interests.

The partnership has already increased awareness of the program, with 120 sign-ups at the activities fair and 30 underclassmen present at the launch event last Thursday.

Walker emphasized her desire to eliminate hierarchy from the program. Each pod includes at least one upperclasswoman in order to ensure diversity of experience, but the pod system encourages two-way mentoring.

"The key is to make sure that everyone feels valuable and can contribute equally and there’s no label that’s restricting you or making you feel unimportant,” she said.

One of the goals of WMN is to give women greater access to networking, especially in male-dominated fields they might otherwise feel uncomfortable pursuing. Sunder explained the importance of this skill, stating that networking is becoming increasingly important in order for women to succeed in their careers.

"I don’t think that succeeding in business is the only important thing in life, but I think that it’s a clear barrier against women succeeding,” she said.

WMN has increased also alumni involvement in order to further this goal, by planning upcoming alumni panel to expose women to different career paths. Additionally, they hope to add alumni advisors to each of the pods.

"The goal here is to show that yes, there are women in these fields and they're here to offer you advice, and it's no longer a boy's club," Walker said.

Another goal of WMN is to create a safe space for women to support each other and establish meaningful relationships. Planned events range from empowering self-defense workshops to movie nights aimed at facilitating discussion on competitiveness between women, in addition to the informal meetings between pods.

The program also emphasizes inclusivity. There is no application required to join a WMN pod, and the monthly events are open to the entire Duke community.

"I’m just really hoping that with the guidance of their peers, upperclassmen, or alums, [women] can better find a place that’s suitable for themselves earlier on,” Peng said.

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