WiE Career Mentorship Program

Applications for the 2025 Mentorship program are now open!

We are so excited to be offering the Women in Engineering Career Mentorship Program at the University of Waterloo and hope that it can provide a valuable and enriching experience for mentors and mentees.

Women make up more than half of the Canadian population but are significantly underrepresented in engineering education and in the engineering profession. Over the past decades, the number of women enrolled in post-secondary engineering programs has risen, as has the number of women in the engineering profession. Yet despite steady increases in the representation of women, men still vastly outnumber women in engineering.

This program was developed in response to this issue, as a way to help provide women and non-binary engineering students at the University of Waterloo with extra support and guidance as they make the transition from student to employee in a male dominated industry. We hope that by connecting our women engineering students with industry leaders, they can gain valuable knowledge and connections, while gaining confidence in themselves and growing their professional networks. 

The program will run for an 8-month period, but of course any matches are able to continue their relationship after the program ends. We focus on program and the areas of interest for mentees and area of expertise for mentors when matching. 

On this site, you will find information about the program goals and meeting schedule. Mentorship manuals will also be provided to mentors and mentees participating in the program which will serve as a guiding tool to help you navigate the program structure and provide information on how to build and nurture a professional relationship with your match.

More About the Program

Goals

Career Mentorship Program Goals

The focus of the Women in Engineering’s Mentorship Program is to create a network between Waterloo women and non-binary engineering students and Waterloo Engineering Alumni. This network and relationship will help foster resources and support as students prepare and think ahead to their future careers in the Industry. We hope this program will help to:

  • Develop relationships between engineering professionals and women-identifying and non-binary engineering students

  • Create a sense of community for women-identifying engineering students

  • Provide support to women engineering students and facilitate professional growth

  • Contribute to the development of important soft skills

  • Bridge the gap between university and industry by sharing experiences

Meeting Schedule

We recommend scheduling a time to meet with each other within the first few weeks of matching to decide on the following:

  • How will the relationship work?
  • How will you meet each month?
  • How often would you like to meet?
  • Timeline for responding to emails and messages
  • Rules around inability to attend a meeting
  • Mentees goals for the program
  • Mentors goals for the program
  • Agreement on privacy, confidentiality and trust

In the mentorship program manual you will find suggested topics that you can use to help guide each of your meetings. Please do not feel like this is mandatory, you may discuss whatever you agree upon. The success of the program will depend on the goals developed together and the commitment of both parties. 

Program Events

We will be offering an in-person program kick-off event to allow mentees and mentors to meet their matches and other individuals in the program. 

Women in Engineering hosts many social and professional developments events for the community throughout the term which any participant in the mentorship program is welcome to attend.