Mentorship Program

Division 54 is committed to the professional development of students and colleagues at all stages of their careers. As part of this commitment, Past-President Mary Jo Kupst established a Mentoring Task Force as one of her presidential initiatives.  The response to this initiative has been outstanding. Since the inception of the project, we have had over 200 members become involved across the country.

Become a Mentor

Results from the survey conducted by the Mentoring Task Force indicated that the overwhelming majority of pediatric psychologists were willing to serve as a mentor for a student or early career psychologist. If you are interested in becoming a mentor, please contact please contact Sharon Berry, Ph.D. or Tonya Palermo, Ph.D., and you will be entered into a database to be matched with a student or junior colleague who is in need of mentorship. Please provide your name, program affiliation, level of experience, and area(s) in which you can provide mentorship (e.g., Clinical, Research, Administration, Teaching).

Connect with a Mentor

According to the Mentoring Task Force survey, 99 % of respondents indicated that mentoring is “important” or “very important” to their professional development, and 75% indicated that they had someone they identified as a mentor. Further, about half of the respondents reported that they had different mentors for different areas of development (research, intervention, administration). If you are interested in being paired with a mentor, please contact Sharon Berry, Ph.D. or Tonya Palermo, Ph.D. Please provide your name, program affiliation, level of training or experience, and area(s) in which you need mentorship (e.g., Clinical, Research, Administration, Teaching).

Mentored Reviews for JPP

Starting on 1/1/07, the Journal of Pediatric Psychology implemented a new policy to provide an organized program and policy for students and fellows to receive mentorship in reviewing manuscripts for JPP. This opportunity to become involved in reviewing the latest work in our field is an extension of SPP’s emphasis on mentoring. Moreover, this is a way for individuals to learn about the peer review process under supervision and to become established in their careers as a reviewer.

If you want to become involved in this process, let us know by emailing Susan Wood, the editorial assistant for JPP.  If you are:

• An ad hoc reviewer or editorial board member of JPP and would like to mentor a student or fellow reviewer

• A student, fellow, or junior faculty member who wants to review for JPP and receive mentorship but does not have access to a mentor who reviews

JPP staff will match you up and give you the opportunity to review. Please provide your email contact information to Susan Wood. It would also be useful to indicate 3-5 key words indicating content areas of research in which you would like to review manuscripts.

Please note that participation in the mentorship program is open only to Division 54 members and student members.  For membership information please visit the Division 54 Membership Page.