Mentorship in the Field of Aging: Purposes, Pivots, and Priorities

Abstract The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) is a multi-disciplinary organization dedicated to advancing the field of aging and improving the lives of older adults. With a long-standing commitment to mentorship and career development, this article focuses on GSA’s Mentoring Consultancies and Career Conversations events and their pivot to meet the needs and demands of current and future gerontologists amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This article provides a description of these events in the context of planning, content, and member engagement. Recommendations are provided to other organizations seeking to enrich their membership through mentorship and career development activities. We acknowledge the contributions of members of the GSA Career Conversations workgroup to the programming described in this paper: Juanita Bacsu, Balachandran, Lei Olivio Patricia Kioyshi-Teo, Wen Claire Pendergrast, Tina Sadarangani, Eva-Maria Trinkaus, and staff liaison Gena Shoen. We thank GSA for its long-standing commitment to mentorship and career development for gerontologists through support of this workgroup, the Visiting Scholars program, Emerging Scholar and Professional Organization, Mentor Match, Diversity Mentoring and Career Development Technical Assistance program and Careers in Aging Week. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare, financial or otherwise. Abstract The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) is a multi-disciplinary organization dedicated to advancing the field of aging and improving the lives of older adults. With a long-standing commitment to mentorship and career development, this article focuses on GSA’s Mentoring Consultancies and Career Conversations events and their pivot to meet the needs and demands of current and future gerontologists amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This article provides a description of these events in the context of planning, content, and member engagement. Recommendations are provided to other organizations seeking to enrich their membership through mentorship and career development activities.