About Us
The MAC Mentoring Program is a graduate student-run initiative from the Graduate School Office of Inclusion & Student Engagement (OISE). Designed to address the needs of a diversity of doctoral students across all graduate fields through peer mentoring, this program focuses on helping new graduate students identify and form community at Cornell. MAC strives to promote a social environment that is inclusive of all doctoral students at Cornell. During the academic year, MAC hosts two monthly events, general body meetings (GBMs) and MAC-Meetups, to help broaden and strengthen a sense of community on campus.
GBMs are monthly full-group events hosted in the Big Red Barn and designed to facilitate engagement among MAC Peer Mentors and Mentees through collaborative activities. MAC-Meetups are more free form monthly meetings planned by the MAC mentors and may take place on campus or in the surrounding Ithaca community. These events are designed to strengthen our MAC community and expose individuals to different activities to participate in at both Cornell and Ithaca as a whole.
MAC Mentors
MAC invites doctoral students going into their second year or beyond, as well as postdoctoral scholars, to apply to serve as peer mentors to support the sense of belonging and success of first-year doctoral students. This is a predominately in-person peer mentoring program so MAC Peer Mentors should be in residence at the Ithaca Campus. In addition to engaging in full-group events, MAC Peer Mentors will be matched with one or more Mentees and asked to check in with them at least once a month (whether this is via text, email, or in-person).
Mentor Eligibility:
1. Currently-enrolled, full-time doctoral student or employed postdoctoral fellow/associate
2. Must be in good academic standing
3. Must have completed at least one year in a doctoral program
MAC Mentees
MAC also invites first-year doctoral students to apply to participate in the MAC Mentoring Program as mentees, which brings more advanced graduate students and postdocs together with beginning graduate students for monthly meetings and event to support mentees in their development of sense of community and belonging within the broader Cornell graduate community.
Mentee Eligibility:
1. First-year doctoral student
Application
Peer Mentor Application: Round 1 selection deadline is Thursday, July 3, 2025. Round 2 selection deadline is Saturday, August 9, 2025. Applications are considered on a rolling basis until Saturday, August 9, 2025 at 11:59 PM ET.
Mentee Application: Please submit your mentee application by Saturday, August 30, 2025 at 11:59 PM ET.
The MAC Mentoring Program runs on an academic year schedule.
This organization is a registered student organization of Cornell University.
