Daily Bruin Alumni Network

DBAN mentoring program

The Daily Bruin Alumni Network Mentoring Program, which began operating in early 2022, is designed to serve as a professional-development resource for current Daily Bruin staff members.

Originally crafted as a pilot project targeting the five 2021-22 DBAN Scholarship students, the program exceeded initial expectations by starting in February 2022 with mentors, drawn from the DBAN community, for 12 Daily Bruin staff members. Mentors, drawn from more than half a century of Daily Bruin alums, were encouraged to meet onsite or online with their protégés every couple of weeks through June 2022 to support those protégés in achieving concrete, measurable results focused on the students’ professional-development goals.

As the program expands, participating students—protégés—will continue to be matched with an appropriate Daily Bruin alum, based on their development needs and goals, for the duration of the program.

Mentors—alums of the Daily Bruin—work with their protégés at least one hour once a month (onsite or online, whatever each mentor/protégé team determines is best suited to the work they will do together) to help the students develop the skills they need to thrive at the Bruin and will also work with them as they shape their career goals.

All participants are encouraged to attend an initial online meeting to set the tone for the project. Monthly drop-in optional one-hour Zoom sessions are held for interested mentors and protégés to discuss whatever is of interest to them within the context of developing their professional skills and career plans.(These sessions provide a virtual lounge, where conversation can center on what is important to participants in terms of their current and long-term career development.)

Each protégé is very much in the driver’s seat in terms of developing, with guidance from a mentor, concrete goals/products the student wants to reach/produce by the time that student has finished working with a mentor.

Two project facilitators—Paul Signorelli and Laureen Lazarovici—remain available to participants to be sure that the program runs smoothly and that any problems students and mentors encounter are dealt with expeditiously.

For more information, please contact Paul Signorelli (paul@paulsignorelli.com) and Matthew Royer (mattlew7062@gmail.com).

section alumni coaching

DBAN has launched an alumni coaching program for individual DB sections. DB Alumni coaches will have the opportunity to share their experience, as well as institutional memories of The Bruin.

We’re working to resume coaching programs for Sports and News, with plans for other sections in discussion.

Program:

• At least three (3) DB alums will be assigned to a designated section per quarter.
• Alum coaches are expected to read their designated section and provide substantive feedback in regular critique memos.
• This can vary by section, but coaches will typically attend one (1) all-editors meeting per month via Zoom.
• Alum coaches will also offer section-specific advice as needed. e.g. in DB Sports, how do I get the most out of an SID or interview, how do I develop a coverage plan for my beat, how do I manage school and travel on the beat, etc.

Expected time commitment: 6 to 8 hours per month, usually spent on critiques of current coverage and monthly mentorship readings. Tasks include offering insights on new challenges facing student newspapers today, coaching up student-staffers, and sharing the best practices from your days in your DB section, as well as your real world work experience.

DBAN Mentoring Committee: Alumni section coaches are welcomed to attend DBAN virtual gatherings each month to further engage with the staffers.

Contacts at DBAN:

Claire Fahy ’17, clairefahy15@gmail.com
Jeong Park ’17, Jeongpark52@gmail.com
Mackenzie Possee ‘18, kenziepossee@gmail.com