Mentor

For other uses, see Mentor (disambiguation).

In Greek mythology, Mentor (Greek: Μέντωρ / Méntōr; gen.: Μέντορος)^[1] was the son of Alcimus or Anchialus. In his old age Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus' foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus' palace, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.

When Athena visited Telemachus she took the disguise of Mentor to hide herself from the suitors of Telemachus' mother Penelope.^[2] As Mentor, the goddess encouraged Telemachus to stand up against the suitors and go abroad to find out what happened to his father. When Odysseus returned to Ithaca, Athena appeared briefly in the form of Mentor again at Odysseus' palace.

Because of Mentor's relationship with Telemachus, and the disguised Athena's encouragement and practical plans for dealing personal dilemmas, the personal name Mentor has been adopted in English as a term meaning someone who imparts wisdom to and shares knowledge with a less experienced colleague.

Mentor as term

Main article: Mentorship

The first recorded modern usage of the term can be traced to a 1699 book entitled Les Aventures de Telemaque, by the French writer François Fénelon^[3] In the book the lead character is that of Mentor. This book was very popular during the 18th century and the modern application of the term can be traced to this publication.^[3]

This is the source of the modern use of the word mentor: a trusted friend, counselor or teacher, usually a more experienced person. Some professions have "mentoring programs" in which newcomers are paired with more experienced people, who advise them and serve as examples as they advance. Schools sometimes offer mentoring programs to new students, or students having difficulties.

Today mentors provide expertise to less experienced individuals to help them advance their careers, enhance their education, and build their networks. In many different arenas people have benefited from being part of a mentoring relationship, including:

• Actors—Laurence Olivier mentored Anthony Hopkins. Martin Landau mentored Jack Nicholson. Mel Gibson mentored Heath Ledger.
• Athletes—Eddy Merckx (five-time Tour de France winner) mentored Lance Armstrong (seven-time Tour de France winner). Bobby Charlton mentored David Beckham.
• Artists-Walter Allward mentored Emanuel Hahn who mentored Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook who mentored Christian Cardell Corbet who in turn mentored Benjamin Trickett Mercer.
• Authors—H.P. Lovecraft mentored Robert Bloch, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard. Richard Wright, Beauford Delaney and Countee Cullen mentored James Baldwin who, in turn, mentored Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison.
• Business people—Freddie Laker mentored Richard Branson.
• Directors—Roger Corman mentored Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Peter Bogdanovich, Jonathan Demme, Joe Dante, James Cameron, John Sayles, Donald G. Jackson, Gale Anne Hurd, Carl Colpaert, Monte Hellman, Paul Bartel, George Armitage, Jonathan Kaplan, George Hickenlooper, Curtis Hanson, and Jack Hill. Martin Scorsese mentored Oliver Stone at New York University.
• Movies—Obi-wan Kenobi mentored Anakin Skywalker and his son Luke Skywalker (Star Wars).
• Musicians—José Antonio Abreu mentored Gustavo Dudamel. Dr. Dre mentors Eminem. Denniz Pop mentored Max Martin. David Foster mentored Josh Groban. Frank Zappa mentored Steve Vai.
• Philosophy-Edmund Husserl mentored Martin Heidegger, who mentored Hannah Arendt. Aime Cesaire mentored Frantz Fanon and Edouard Glissant.
• Poetry—Seamus Heaney mentored Paul Muldoon. Siegfried Sassoon mentored Wilfred Owen
• Politicians—Aristotle mentored Alexander the Great.
• Television—Perry Cox mentored J.D. (Scrubs).

"Mentee"

The student of a mentor is called a protégé. More accurately, the protégé could be called the telemachus (pl. telemachuses or telemachi). Sometimes, the protégé is also called a mentee. The -or ending of the original name Mentor does not have the meaning of "the one who does something", as in other English words such as contractor or actor. The derivation of mentee from mentor is therefore an example of backformation (cf. employer and employee).

See also

• Coaching
• eMentors
• Father complex
• Maybach Foundation
• MENTOR
• Mentoring
• Peer mentoring
• TechSoup, formerly The CompuMentor Project
• Tutor
• Youth mentoring

References

1. ^ Online Etymology Dictionary - Mentor
2. ^ Homer. Odyssey, Book II, Lines 255 and 268.
3. ^ ^{a b} Roberts, Andy. (1999) "The origins of the term mentor". History of Education Society Bulletin, No. 64, November 1999, p. 313–329.

External links

• Mentorship: A Selected Bibliography
• "Often, men help women get to the corner office"—2009 USA Today article
• Homer’s Mentor: Duties Fulfilled or Misconstrued—An on-line version of Andy Roberts' paper (see the References section)