Have you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall of a professional who has your dream job?

Seattle Pacific's School of Business and Economics' mentor program gives students intimate access to some of the region's top business leaders. Launched in 1997 by former Washington Senator Nancy Lucks and funded by the Herb Jones Foundation, the program continues to provide exceptional opportunities for SPU undergraduate and graduate business students eager to lay down the tracks of their future.

Carol Browne, program coordinator at SBE's Center for Applied Learning, loves to count off the names of top-notch advisors who have leant a hand. The list includes senior vice presidents, CEOs, and people like Kevin Martinez, vice president of marketing for the Seattle Mariners. “Even if you were an employee working for one of these professionals,” she says, “you may not get to spend five quality hours with them gaining valuable insights from their lifelong applied and academic learning.”

That is the distinguishing factor of SBE's mentor program. Participating students, who would be matched to a mentor with a group of students at other schools, are given one-on-one mentorships. There are more than 300 companies participating, from ‘mom-and-pop' neighborhood establishments to giants like Boeing, Starbucks and Nordstrom. More are recruited each year. So far, more than 575 mentors have played influential roles. The program is so effective that it is not unusual for one of the program's learners to become a mentor a few years later.

“Chris Frickel, director of marketing for PGA Northwest, is great example,” says Browne. “He was mentored by Kemper Freeman Jr., one of the premiere developers of downtown Bellevue. Now Chris is a mentor in the marketing field. He is an advocate for the program because he enjoyed it.” Frickel's experience proved so valuable that he has contacted several high-profile marketing professionals who have also added their names to the mentor list.

That recommendation of one mentor by another is one of the ways Browne tracks down the best of the best. “We only invite established business professionals with a pattern of success in their careers and a reputation for integrity to participate,” she explains.

Many grad students work full time, but they can still find opportunities to experiment with alternate careers. Browne believes that those business contacts are critical considering the challenging conditions of today's job market. “I always tell the students, ‘You get out of it what you put into it.' They can go into a mentor meeting and initiate new opportunities for themselves by asking, ‘Is there a project I can take on for you?' ‘Can I meet your associates?'”

Browne sees the program as fulfilling SBE's vision for applied learning. “We feel that the best way to get a complete academic experience is not just through classroom learning and books, but also through going out and seeing how the skills you've learned in class apply to the real world and how you ought to change and modify those skills so that you're marketable when you get out of school.”

For more information on the mentoring program, contact Carol Browne at SBE's Center for Applied Learning. Call 206/281-2942 or email cebrowne@spu.edu

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