Friday Focus: Connect, grow and thrive with 51·çÁ÷¹ÙÍø’s mentoring program
Sept. 26, 2025
— By Carla Browning, Onboarding and Engagement manager
I am pleased to announce the launch of a new employee mentoring pilot program, designed to support employee career growth and longevity at the university.
This initiative aims to accelerate employee onboarding, boost retention and reduce turnover by making new and existing employees feel valued, connected and supported. By pairing colleagues across colleges, departments and locations, the program is designed to foster connections and community and increase collaboration through the sharing of best practices and ideas across the organization.
The pilot is anchored by TogetherPlatform.com, a user-friendly site with a self-matching portal and AI-generated conversation starters
to support the mentoring relationship. The platform includes SSO (single sign-on)
as well as integration with calendars and Zoom.
We’re ready to invite employees to register for the pilot and open matching. Seats
are limited. Interested mentors and mentees should .
It doesn’t take long to fill out a profile. Once completed, employees are initially
matched with potential mentors by an algorithm. Pilot participants are encouraged
to meet for a minimum of 45 minutes a month through May of 2026.
I’m especially excited about our plans to work with UA training and development to
go beyond one-on-one mentoring. We’ve designed the program to include small communities
of learners interested in topics such as supervision, leadership and more. Through
these cohorts, employees will have an opportunity to expand their professional networks
and gain a better understanding of the university. Mentors will enhance their individual
coaching and leadership skills.
The faculty program, coordinated by the Center for Teaching and Learning, includes
individual faculty members paired with first-year faculty who are interested in using
the pilot to help coordinate regularly scheduled sessions, and faculty who are interested
in connecting with others for one-on-one mentoring.
I’d like to thank the Chancellor’s Office, Vice Chancellor Julie Queen, and Jenn Pedersen with the Center for Teaching and Learning for providing funding for the platform. I would also like to thank employees who provided feedback that helped to shape the pilot, including the more than 200 faculty and staff who responded to a needs assessment survey, as well as Academic Leadership Institute participants and the Employee Experience Task Force for their support of this recommendation.
Ready to help?
Email uaf-welcome-team@alaska.edu to find out how you can become a program champion.
Friday Focus is a column written by a different member of 51·çÁ÷¹ÙÍø's leadership team every week. On occasion, a guest writer is invited to contribute a column.