Mentorship programs exist in many workplaces but those offered by professional associations provide important advantages, such as:

- supporting the development of statistical practice skills and knowledge of a recent graduate (e.g., SSC accreditation mentorship program for accredited statisticians), 

- providing career advice when preparing for promotion or changing employment sectors, and 

- giving support when challenging ethical or other dilemmas arise. 

A key advantage is that the mentor and mentee will not likely be from the same institution, thereby avoiding potential conflicts of interest. Another advantage is a mutual understanding of the discipline culture.

The women in statistics committee (WISC) of the SSC has developed a pilot mentorship program to run from January to June 2025 for a small number of pairs of SSC members (~10) who identify as women. This pilot program will target women, who are an equity-seeking group in statistics, and fall under the mandate of the WISC. The intention is to expand this mentorship program to all SSC members in the future based on the success of this pilot program.

The SSC pilot mentorship program will  focus on short-term matches of a 6-month duration. Mentees will need to be a member of the SSC, be employed (that is, not currently a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow), and currently not an A.Stat. member (as they have access to P.Stat. mentorship). Mentors will also need to be a member of the SSC and can be employed in any sector, including industry, government, and academia.

Please watch for a call for mentors and mentees interested in the mentorship program in December 2024.