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Date
January 30, 2026
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Mentoring Relationships 101: What is Mentorship & What is the Benefit?

Room: 222 - This workshop will discuss and put into practice key aspects of identifying, utilizing, setting expectations, and the benefits of have mentors. The term mentor comes from Homer’s Odyssey; Mentor was the tutor to Odysseus’s son, Telemachus. In a real sense, mentors are tutors. Perhaps more appropriately, they are coaches. You will learn about variations in mentor styles, e.g., directive, instructive, and coaching, and the characteristics of each. This session will also discuss how to choose a mentor, and there will be hands on learning about coaching and the benefits of a mentor with a coaching style. 


 

Presenter: Mark de Jong

Mark de Jong is an Alumni of SUNY Brockport, obtaining his MA in History in 2997. He joined the U.S. Naval War College in 2025 as director of the Henry E. Eccles Library and as an associate professor. He most recently worked at the U.S. Naval Academy’s Nimitz Library in Annapolis, MD and at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, MD. He earned a doctorate in management with a focus in higher education leadership in addition to his library degree. Mark taught in multiple University System of Maryland institutions as an adjunct for twenty-two years, first in history and then in management/leadership.