Mentorship
Besides being a respectable seventeen Scrabble points, a great name for a pedagogy-oriented spacecraft, and an unlikely Wordle answer due primarily to the obstacle of its length, mentorship is a discipline-unspecific idea that is vital to the sustained success of Saint Vincent students and graduates. Mentorship being situated in the mitochondria of high achievement is evident in each of the three schools at SVC, and the stories of graduates Ricky Douglas, Rachel Maley, and Kayla Uveges demonstrate this multifold.
Story: Rob Biertempfel | Illustrations: Ellie Powell
Ricky Douglas
Ricky Douglas graduated in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in marketing. When changing majors between his freshman and sophomore years from biology to marketing, Dr. Thomas Cline became Douglas’s academic advisor and would continue to advise him in and out of the classroom for years to come.
Douglas played wide receiver for the football team during his tenure at SVC, and he broke single season records for receptions and yardage as a junior. When he graduated, Douglas had several employment opportunities, and he went to Dr. Cline for advice. “[Dr. Cline] felt my best opportunity was with Weiblinger’s Residential Care, Inc., as an entry level accountant. He felt it would provide business experience in a smaller company, and even though it was an accounting position [instead of] marketing, I would gain far more business experience. I ultimately decided to accept the offer.”
Fast forward a decade, and Douglas is now a part-owner and CEO of Weiblinger’s Residential Care, Inc. This business provides residential care services for adults with intellectual disabilities as a part of the Home and Community Based Services system in the state of Pennsylvania. Douglas worked his way up from entry level accountant to CEO, and Dr. Cline was a big part of why Douglas accepted the entry level position in the first place.
But it’s not just academic or employment guidance that has made the relationship between Douglas and Dr. Cline special. It’s also personal. “In January of 2011 while on Christmas break, my father passed away suddenly. Upon returning to campus, my teammates, friends, and professors played a critical role in helping me through this most trying time—none more impactful than Dr. Cline. One memory that stands out [is] shortly after my return to campus, during one of my marketing classes with Dr. Cline, I became distraught and had to excuse myself from class. Moments later, Dr. Cline appeared in the hallway, taking time away from the other students to be an ear for me to decompress. We sat in the hallway for a good fifteen minutes talking about my father and the struggle I was having on that day. It was an extremely impactful moment and a testament to who Dr. Cline is.” Epitomized in Douglas’s story, mentorship transcends brick-and-mortar pedagogy and curriculum, operating equally in domains of compassion and understanding as instruction.
“Like transitioning from high school to college, beginning your professional life can be overwhelming. Family plays a critical role in both moments, but the value a college professor can add in terms of mentorship and providing a unique perspective cannot be understated.”
— Ricky Douglas, C'13
Rachel Maley
Rachel Maley graduated in 2011, having majored in English with a secondary education minor and securing her teaching certificate in English for grades 7-12. Maley credits Dr. Sara Lindey with having typified the mentor designator during her time at SVC, after graduation, and well into her graduate school career as Maley completed her PhD.
As an education minor, Maley thought her career path was set. It was through Dr. Lindey’s classes like Sentimental Politics, though, that she considered taking seriously the possibility of getting a doctorate in literature. Maley points to a research trip with Dr. Lindey to the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) as one that captures Dr. Lindey’s impact. That experience and the texts Maley researched at the AAS caught the attention of the professor reviewing doctorate program applications at the University of Pittsburgh—the professor who would eventually become Maley’s dissertation chair at Pitt.
Currently, Maley works in the English department at Pitt, synthesizing her passions for teaching and literature. Maley was just recently hired as a teaching assistant professor in Literature, specifically print culture and archival research methods, and Dr. Lindey played a consequential role in making this all possible with the AAS trip years ago.
“That trip was an adventure, and once I took it, I knew that’s what I wanted to keep doing. I get that thrill and rush each time I take my students to Archives and Special Collections at the Hillman Library on the Pitt campus. I hope to pass on that same excitement to my students.”
In this way mentorship creates more mentorship. Like Bill Dickey mentoring Yogi Berra and Yogi Berra mentoring Craig Biggio, Maley now plans to mentor her own Craig Biggios. “I aspire to provide that kind of project and career mentorship for my students now that I have a future at Pitt in my new role. Dr. Lindey continues to be a treasured friend and valuable colleague in providing advice and insights into the life of an academic from early career to beyond. I’ve been fortunate she’s been on this journey with me for fourteen years.”
“Mentorship is absolutely key and doesn’t stay restricted to the classroom space. If it did, Dr. Lindey would never have considered inviting me on that research trip, and I’m skeptical it would have opened the door for my dissertation advisor to notice my application in the pile.”
— Rachel Maley, C'11
Kayla Uveges
Kayla Uveges graduated in May 2017 with a Bachelor of Science in biology and a minor in sacred music; she also completed an MS in curriculum and instruction in May 2020 with a grades 7-12 teaching certification in biology. Along the way, Dr. Jennifer Koehl served as Uveges’s academic advisor as well as her advisor for the S-STEM Scholarship program.
After instructing Uveges in microbiology her sophomore year, Dr. Koehl hired Uveges to work as a tutor and lab and teaching assistant for the department, and eventually she asked Uveges to be her personal assistant. When Dr. Koehl also became her senior research advisor, Uveges got more experience in microbiology work, too. These numerous intersections would lead to a strong relationship between Uveges and Dr. Koehl and would inspire Uveges to pursue teaching herself.
A year into her master’s program, Uveges decided that research wasn’t really working out for her and wasn’t something she was passionate about. She reached out to Dr. Koehl for advice. “She reassured me that I had the skills to finish my degree but that I needed to do what was best for me. Her unwavering confidence in whatever decision I made was a huge support, and it helped me decide to leave the program and return to Saint Vincent to pursue a degree in education, since my overall goal was to be teaching in some aspect.”
Realizing that she would need a job to help get her through her master’s program, Uveges again contacted Dr. Koehl to see if she knew of any opportunities near the College. It turned out that the Biology Department was hiring a lab coordinator, and she encouraged Uveges to apply.
Uveges was hired, and their mentorship changed from one of instructor-student to supervisor-colleague. Uvege scredits Dr. Koehl with showing her the importance of leadership skills and communication in order to work through various workplace scenarios: “Mentorship can lead to collaboration or shared resources that may help with new pursuits you tackle, and it’s a great way to keep connected with someone whose opinion you value and trust.”
“I think it is extremely useful to have mentorship when graduating and moving into the workforce. It gives you the ability to learn from the knowledge, wisdom, and experience of someone who has been in your shoes before to help guide you into the next steps of your future.”
— Kayla Uveges, C'17, G'20
Illustrated in the longstanding and ongoing relationships between Ricky and Dr. Cline, Rachel and Dr. Lindey, and Kayla and Dr. Koehl, mentorship is deeper than just lecture material, recommendation letters, seventeen Scrabble points, or an implausible Wordle answer. Mentorship is a relationship—transcendent of classroom, lab, or conference settings, vital for the success of Saint Vincent students and graduates.
