UO Math Mentoring Program

Starting Fall 2024

What is this program about?
What to expect if you're a mentee.
What to expect if you're a mentor. How to apply to be a mentor.
Why a mentoring program?

What is this program about?

This program matches freshmen and newly declared math majors (or those explorers leaning towards a math major) with upperclass math major mentors. Mentors will help guide their mentees through the math major and even through the process of understanding what mathematics is. In addition, the mentor will organize social events for their small cohort of mentees, and the mentors will join together to organize social events for the whole community of mentees.

What to expect if you're a mentee.

Mentees will be matched with a mentor, who will each have a small group of 8 to 10 mentees. Mentors are expected to have office hours during weeks 0 and 1 of each term, and near registration weeks for the following term, so that mentees can easily find them for advice and understanding. For the remainder of the term, mentors will be available by appointment. The expectation is that each mentee will meet their mentor in an individual meeting once a term, and mentors will reach out to you if you have not already made contact with them.

Mentees can expect social events, some large and some small, which allow them to meet their fellow math majors. Most of these social events will not be math-focused events, but will be things like ice-cream socials or picnics. The expectation is that each mentee will have the chance to attend at least four events per year. Mentors can also help mentees learn about more mathematical social opportunities, such as math clubs, or the lectures for undergraduates organized by the graduate student chapter of the Association of Women in Mathematics.

What to expect if you're a mentor. How to apply to be a mentor.

This program is new as of 2024, and we hope it will make a significant impact on the experience of many students on campus. We hope you will take part in the excitement.

Mentors will be hired by the mathematics department. Interested applicants should send an email to Jason Murphy (jamu@) as soon as possible with the subject line

Math Peer Mentor Application: Firstname Lastname

and should include in the body of the email some of their favorite math courses taken at the 300-level or above. Interviews and then job offers will take place in Spring of 2024. The interview is not about mathematical knowledge or ability, but is primarily a tool to gauge social skills, responsibility, enthusiasm, and other desirable qualities in a mentor.

The expectation is that mentors will work an average of three hours per week throughout the academic year, with more hours worked near the beginning of each quarter, and fewer hours in the middle of each quarter. This includes time spent on training at the end of the summer. Mentors will receive training both in aspects of mentorship and in the details of the math major.

We hope to pay mentors approximately $470 per quarter for three quarters, which is significantly more than similar mentoring programs on campus. The department will also provide a budget to support social events, and will provide some logistical support.

Why a mentoring program?

Here are a few major reasons:

The first and most important is the obvious one: mentoring helps to support students, and to provide them with inspiration, understanding, and role models.

The typical math major begins college by taking courses which teach techniques to all STEM majors, significant examples being calculus and linear algebra. Beyond our recently introduced Math Labs, there are few courses where majors interact primarily with other math majors, and we wanted to provide another route to building peer groups and communities amongst math majors, early in their college careers. In 300- and 400-level math courses, work is much more collaborative, and having a group to think through problems with is very advantageous.

What path does one take after graduating with a math major? This is a common line of questioning. Math majors are trained, more than any other major, to be problem solvers. They are trained to craft coherent and convincing arguments. They are trained to get under the hood and understand the techniques they use. Math majors are truly trained to learn. Ultimately, a math major is a badge that indicates you can be thrown into any scenario and can find your way to succeed. Employers know this, though undergraduates often do not. Mentoring is a good way to reinforce and discuss these ideas, and explain the available opportunities.

Math is a unique discipline in many ways. One of them is this: the physics, chemistry, and biology you may have learned in high school is all from the 20th century. The math you learned in high school is likely from millenia ago (precalculus), or if you took calculus, this dates from the late 1600s. A lot has happened since then, and one doesn't really learn about it until one stumbles upon it in advanced math courses. What is Analysis? What is Algebra? What is Topology? We hope that mentoring will give early exposure to higher mathematics, and help people take courses that most interest and excite them.

Finally, a little bit of advice and a second pair of eyes and ears helps students avoid making mistakes in their path through the major, and helps students get access to departmental advising resources.