The LSA is delighted to announce its newest member benefit: an online Distance Mentoring Facility which will enable LSA members to identify themselves as mentees, mentors, or both, with specific areas of scholarly and professional concern, and to search the LSA member directory for a mentoring partner, or ask to be matched with a mentoring partner by LSA staff.  The Distance Mentoring facility is a cornerstone of the LSA Mentoring Initiative, a multifaceted program which also includes in-person pop-up mentoring at LSA meetings and Institutes; other events with a professional development focus at LSA meetings and Institutes; audiovisual resources and webinars; and online resources and guidance.

The Distance Mentoring Facility is designed to allow LSA members to be matched with a mentoring partner according to areas of subject interest (phonetics, phonology, etc.) and areas of mentoring concern (early career, work-life balance, minority linguist, etc.), and to either search for a mentoring partner in the LSA member database or be matched with a mentoring partner by LSA staff.

As the Distance Mentoring Facility debuts, we are issuing a call for mentors.  We request that potential mentors sign up by January 31, following the steps below:

1. Log in to the LSA website as usual, and click the “Edit” tab below your name to edit your membership profile.
2. In the “Account Settings” tab, make sure that the “List me in the Member Directory” box is checked. 
3. In the “Linguistics Mentoring Alliance” tab, click “Yes” to participate; selecting the check box to participate as a mentor.
4. Enter one or more areas of subject interest and mentoring experience/concern.
5. Select how you would like to be matched with a mentoring partner (by searching the LSA member database yourself, or by LSA staff)
6. Check the box to agree to abide by the LSA’s mentoring guidelines.
7. Click the “Save” button at the bottom of the page.

We anticipate that the Mentoring Facillity will become fully operational at the beginning of February, after it has been populated with potential mentors. 

As the Distance Mentoring Facility debuts, we are particularly interested in encouraging potential mentors to sign up so as to ensure an ample supply of these is available for members who are seeking mentoring.