Information for International Scholars at UNLV

The International Scholar Mentor Program

The International Scholar Mentor Program is meant to enhance the experience of incoming international faculty, staff, and researchers. The Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS) provides an individual orientation for each new international scholar, but it is not culture or language specific. Some new international scholars at UNLV have expressed a desire to contact scholars from their own countries or regions of the world in order to obtain information on a variety of topics related to daily life in the U.S., such as food, religious services, adjustment to the U.S. and UNLV culture. (Please note: Any scholar with questions related to immigration matters should contact an OISS advisor.) Current scholars will serve as mentors, or guides, for the new scholars (the mentees).

The OISS office will provide the mentor with the e-mail address of the new scholar, preferably before the new scholar arrives in the U.S. After the new scholar has arrived on campus, the mentor and new scholar meet for one hour (or longer, if they both agree). They can discuss any issues they choose. Some suggestions: cultural differences and adjustment, information about UNLV activities and life in Las Vegas, working in a particular department or college, religious services, or where to find ethnic foods. The mentor is under no obligation to be a long-term consultant to the new scholar. However, the mentor and the new scholar may certainly continue to meet, if they both wish, after the initial meeting.

How does the program work?

1. When a new scholar expresses an interest in participating in the program, he/she completes an information questionnaire (New Scholar/Mentee Enrollment Form) and submits it to the OISS.

2. Based on the preferences of the new scholar, the OISS contacts other scholars who have been at UNLV for a while to see if one of them would like to serve as a mentor. If so, the OISS gives the name and e-mail address of the new scholar to the mentor and requests that the new scholar be contacted within one week, at the mentor’s convenience.

3. The mentor contacts the new scholar via e-mail and introduces him or herself. The mentor and new scholar can correspond via e-mail as much as they like before the new scholar arrives on campus. Once the new scholar arrives on campus, the mentor and new scholar agree on a mutually convenient time and place to meet for approximately one hour (or longer, if they both agree).

4. The OISS contacts the new scholar to confirm that the mentor contacted him/her.

5. The mentor and new scholar can discuss any issue they choose.

6. After the initial meeting, the new scholar completes the Mentor Program Survey and submits it to the OISS.

For more information or if you would like to participate in the International Scholar Mentor Program, contact the Office of International Students & Scholars at kristen.reza@ccmail.nevada.edu or (702) 895-0218.

This program is adapted from the International Scholar Mentor Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.