News from the Hilltop

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 3, 2012

Birmingham-Southern College announces new mentorship program  

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Birmingham-Southern College has launched a new intensive pre-professional mentoring program designed to give students practical preparation for the fields they’ll enter after graduation.

The Panther Partnerships Mentoring Program, which kicked off with an opening reception last week, is organized through the BSC’s Edward Lee Norton Board of Advisors, a group of representatives from Birmingham’s public, private, and nonprofit sectors who work closely with the college. It is starting out with a pilot group of 10 students, all juniors, who have been carefully matched with 10 mentors. The program should expand in the 2013-2014 academic year.

“We are very excited about the mentoring program because it has such great potential for the future,” said BSC Chief of Staff Linda Flaherty-Goldsmith, who is coordinating the program for the college. “We already do a great job preparing bright young people to be the leaders of tomorrow. We would like to make it possible for every student here at BSC to have a meaningful mentoring relationship or similar significant opportunity before they graduate.” 

The program is designed to give the students intense, year-long experiences and help them build a lifelong relationship with their mentors. Each is required to participate in monthly meetings or conversations with their mentors and to take at least two educational seminars on networking, resume-building and other skills.

The lead group of mentors are: Lowell Christy, president of Christy/Cobb Consulting Engineers; Colin Coyne, president of the Coyne Group and winner of Prize2theFuture; Joseph E. “Jodie” Smith, an attorney at Maynard Cooper & Gale PC; John N. Wrinkle, of counsel at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP; Hill Carmichael, charitable giving specialist at Alabama Power Company; Ashley Page, vice president and wealth consultant at Fi-Plan Partners; Dr. Greg Banks of Alabama Women’s Specialists, Beth Curry, chief program officer at the Lakeshore Foundation; Angela Hall, assistant director of the Birmingham Public Library; and James Pennington, an attorney at Ogletree Deakins.

About BSC:
Birmingham-Southern College is a four-year, private liberal arts institution in Birmingham, Ala., founded in 1856 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church. It enrolls about 1,200 students from more than 30 states and 16 foreign countries. Learn more online at www.bsc.edu.

About the Norton Board:
The Edward Lee Norton Board of Advisors was established in 1974 to honor the memory of Edward Lee Norton by providing a forum for mixing the academic and theoretical wisdom of Birmingham-Southern College with the practical advice of Birmingham’s business and professional community. It consists of more than 175 members who connect the college to the community and vice versa and are a conduit to prepare students for engagement, service and leadership. Learn more at www.bsc.edu/administration/norton.