Wednesday, December 3, 2025
2:00 – 3:30 pm ET

Recruitment, Training & Program Design to Increase Engagement and Completion

Peer mentoring is one of the most powerful, high-impact strategies to drive student belonging, academic confidence and persistence. When designed well, mentoring programs don’t just help students navigate the complexities of college life—they improve retention, deepen engagement and strengthen your institution’s culture of support.

Building a sustainable, results-driven peer mentoring program requires intentional recruitment, training, infrastructure and assessment—alongside the ability to retain both mentors and mentees. With staff stretched thin and managing ever-growing caseloads, peer mentors have become essential partners in advancing campus-wide retention and student success initiatives.

Join us on December 3, 2025, as our expert presenters share proven strategies that have transformed mentoring programs on their campuses—boosting persistence, retention and student engagement. You’ll discover actionable, data-informed approaches you can adapt to your institution’s unique needs to strengthen outcomes, remove barriers, and elevate student satisfaction and completion rates.

Topics Covered

Gain crucial, actionable takeaways that will help you:

• Recruit and retain strong peer mentors using innovative approaches that improve training outcomes and sustainability.
• Build cross-campus collaborations to expand mentoring capacity and embed it into your institution’s mission.
• Increase measurable student success outcomes including persistence, sense of belonging, and campus involvement through well-designed mentoring initiatives.
• Design effective, scalable programs with key elements such as mentor-mentee matching, training frameworks and intentional support structures.
• Secure funding and resources to ensure long-term program impact, while enhancing engagement and use of campus services.
• Evaluate and demonstrate program effectiveness to gain institutional buy-in, expand scope, and strengthen your holistic student success strategy.

Presenters

Dr. Gregory V. Wolcott currently serves as the Associate Dean of Students at Santa Clara University in California.
Click here for full bio.

Lilly Pinedo Gangai currently serves as the Inaugural Senior Director of the Identity-Based Retention Centers at San José State University (SJSU) in California.
Click here for full bio.