Guidelines

The Sandifer mentorships

In the fall of 2004 Eureka College initiated the Sandifer Mentorships for incoming freshmen. For those students to adequately plan and prepare for eligibility for these mentorships, the following are some guidelines:

1. Students must have a 3.5 cumulative GPA at the end of their sophomore year to receive the award. Students will have been deemed to have completed their sophomore year when they have accumulated a minimum of sixty (60) Eureka College semester hours. Hours transferred from other institutions will not be considered for either the required GPA or for the purpose of determining completion of sophomore status. Students entering Eureka College with 12 or more hours transferred from other colleges or universities cannot be considered for the award.

2. Students who have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher at the end of their first sophomore semester (45 Eureka credit hours) will be notified of their potential candidacy for a Sandifer Mentorship and provided the forms for application. The student will be responsible for filing a written application to be considered as a Sandifer finalist. This application must be submitted not later than mid-term of the semester in which they will have achieved sixty (60) Eureka College credit hours. This written application should be accompanied by substantiated documentation of significant activity in both leadership and service.

3. As a general guideline, students will be considered to have met the service requirements for a Sandifer Mentorship if they can provide evidence of having completed service projects in their first two years at Eureka in which they performed a minimum of eighty (80) hours of donated service time. Membership in an organization alone will not be considered a service. Active service work must be documented.

4. The leadership requirement will be considered to have been fulfilled if the student can show documented evidence of having served in leadership positions or having performed leadership roles in organizations either on or off campus. The best documentation for leadership would be letters of reference from responsible people associated with the organization(s) or the leadership role(s) used for the fulfillment of this requirement. (e.g. letters from coaches describing leadership roles on an athletic team; letters from faculty outlining leadership functions in music, theatre, or group course work; letters from faculty or staff outlining leadership in organizations in which the faculty or staff member served as sponsor, letters from sponsors or supervisors describing leadership activity in outside organizations, etc.)

5. A review committee will be convened by the President as needed to review applications and to verify successful completion of the leadership and service requirements. Students meeting these requirements will then be notified that they have satisfactorily fulfilled the service and leadership components of the mentorships. Successful completion of the GPA requirement at the end of that semester will automatically qualify these students for a Sandifer mentorship.

6. Students expecting to receive a Sandifer mentorship may begin planning for the use of their mentorships prior to its formal award and are encouraged be begin that process with the E.C. staff responsible for the program. However, no college funds will be committed until the mentorship is finally awarded. Students who have been notified that they have successfully completed the leadership and service components, and who are relatively certain of receiving the award, may decide to commit their own funds for travel reservations, housing, etc. and apply for reimbursement upon formal receipt of the award. The College will not be responsible should students commit their own funds and then fail to achieve the required GPA for the award.

7. Sandifer Mentorship activity paid for by the College may include travel, food, housing, tuition, and incidental expenses. A budget estimating mentorship expenses must be approved in advance by the program director. No advance payment or reimbursement will be authorized or granted unless such prior approval has been obtained. All funded mentorships must be performed following their formal award. No Sandifer program money will be authorized for reimbursement of expenses involving travel or activities that occurred prior to the completion of the sophomore year and/or the formal award of the mentorship. Each student receiving a Sandifer mentorship will be required to submit detailed expense reports following the mentorship, and will be responsible for the repayment of any funds received from the College that were in excess of the actual cash outlays reflected on these expense reports. Expenses for items costing more than $20 must be substantiated with receipts.

8. While there are no specific limits on Sandifer Mentorship expenditures, those students receiving the mentorship should use $2,500 as a planning guideline for the maximum college expenditure. This amount will normally be sufficient to cover reasonable costs of travel, food, housing, tuition and other expenses needed to make the mentorship a memorable and valuable educational experience. Expenditures in excess of $2,500 may be allowed, by exception, in cases where significant educational opportunities exist and will require specific, written authorization by the director of the program. As a general guideline, mentorships will normally be between four and eight weeks in duration. Requests for mentorships shorter than four or longer than eight weeks must be approved by the program director and will only be approved by exception.

9. The Sandifer Mentorships are meant to be educational opportunities, not vacations or travel-for- travel's-sake. For a specific mentorship to be approved for funding, it must contain significant elements of research, formal study, work, interning, professional experience, or professional association with a suitable mentor. No program expenditures will be approved without one or more of these components involved.

10. Students receiving Sandifer Mentorships will have the primary responsibility for making all of the arrangements for the mentorship including travel arrangements, housing, mentor agreements, acceptance in programs, etc. The Sandifer program director and other Eureka College faculty and staff stand ready to assist and may be called upon in making these arrangements, but the primary responsibility still rests with the student mentorship recipient.

11. Students receiving a Sandifer mentorship may be asked to represent the College and the Sandifer program in a variety of ways such as talks at Admissions Open Houses, Board of Trustee meetings, campus events, advising new Sandifer Fellows, etc. Sandifer recipients should view these opportunities as part of their continuing commitment to service and leadership.