Thought Leadership Mentorship
Thought leaders are those people in communities and organizations that others turn to for their expertise. They inspire and influence others with their grounded knowledge and innovative thinking. Build up your thought leadership skills by learning from each other through the QEP Thought Leadership Mentorship Program.
What is the Thought Leadership Mentorship Program?
The QEP Thought Leadership Mentorship Program is designed to bring together students who have experience getting their knowledge and ideas out into the world with students that would like to learn about how to do the same. This program is open to both graduate and undergraduate students — whatever year you are, whichever campus you’re on, you’re welcome to join us!
Who is the program for?
Both undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at any TWU campus are eligible to apply to be either a Thought Leadership Expert or a Thought Leadership Scholar (see descriptions of each below).
Expert Mentors with experience in public-facing communications
Are you a student with experience sharing their ideas with the public? Maybe you’ve hosted a podcast, started an educational social media channel, written a blog, gotten an OpEd published in a newspaper or an essay published in a magazine, or maybe you’ve hosted a workshop for your local community!
Whatever experience you have, we would love to connect you with other students on campus who are interested in learning more about getting their ideas out into the world. Leverage your experience to gain mentorship and leadership experience, work with other students interested in thought leadership, and get a $500 scholarship for doing so!
Scholar Mentees with interest in public-facing scholarship
Are you interested in getting your ideas and knowledge out into the world, but you’re not sure where to start? Have an idea for an educational podcast, essay, or video, but not sure how to make it reality? You don’t need any prior experience to learn from your peers!
Whatever your interests, we’d love to connect you with other students who have experience in getting their ideas out into the world. Work one-on-one with a peer mentor to develop a public-facing communications project that you can put on your resume and use to jumpstart your thought leadership journey!
When does the program take place?
The Thought Leadership Mentorship Program takes place during the Spring semester each year. Applications are accepted the preceding Fall semester. Mentors and mentees are given interactive, hands-on training in the Fall to prepare them to hit the ground running in Spring.
Timeline for Spring 2026:
Sept 5, 2025 Informational Webinar
Sept 2-15, 2025 Application Period
Oct 2 - Nov 7, 2025 Orientation & Training Sessions
Jan 12 - May 13, 2026 Mentorship Program
Where can I learn more about the program?
Keep an eye on our calendar of events to find out when we’ll host our next informational session on the Thought Leadership Mentorship program. We host at least one informational session each year.
Missed our last informational session?
Watch this helpful informational video:
Still have questions?
Feel free to reach out to our Public Scholarship Specialist, Dr. Elizabeth Brownlow, at ebrownlow@twu.edu.
Page last updated 1:07 PM, October 15, 2025