%0 Conference Paper %B 2011 Mentorship Conference %D 2011 %T Omni-directional mentorship: Redefining mentorship as a reciprocal process of teaching and learning %A Edward P. Clapp %X When one thinks of mentorship, what often comes to mind is the vision of a wizened field leader sharing knowledge and expertise with a less experienced protégé. This traditional approach to mentorship customarily involves the counsel of a young mentee by a more senior mentor. While such an approach to mentorship can be applied to great effect, the top-down nature of these relationships emphasize a power dynamic that overlooks the potential to tap the knowledge and expertise of an organization’s diverse constituents, deviant voices, and emerging talent. This theoretical paper problematizes traditional top-down approaches to mentorship and argues for more reciprocal models that incorporate the knowledge and expertise of multiple colleagues and stakeholders within one’s workplace or professional sphere. This paper first recognizes that mentoring relationships are by nature directional before making the case for a new mentoring framework: Omni-Directional Mentorship. The primary focus of Omni- Directional Mentorship is to fuse traditional top-down mentorship with “mentoring-up,” and “lateral mentorship” experiences to help replace steep institutional hierarchies with more constructive webs of teaching and learning. %B 2011 Mentorship Conference %I University of New Mexico %C Albuquerque, NM %8 October %G eng