The 2015-2016 Mentorship and Leadership Development Committee (MLDC) was Jamie Sommer and Clare Willis (co-chairs), Ben Brighoff, Tom Gaylord, and Gretchen Van Dam.

The Committee held its first networking event in July 2015. The event was designed to allow first-time annual meeting attendees to hear from seasoned conference attendees on how to get the most out of the annual meeting.

Last fall, the MLDC formally announced the launch of the CALL mentorship program. Over the past year we were able to make six successful mentorship matches. Beginning with the September business meeting, one member of the committee volunteered to greet new CALL members and student members at each meeting and encourage them to apply for a mentor and get involved with the organization.

In January, the committee held a panel discussion on leadership opportunities. Our distinguished panelists discussed the different roles that leaders play in organizations and what skills it takes to be a successful leader. In addition to learning about leadership opportunities, a goal of the program was to encourage members to step up and volunteer for leadership positions within CALL and AALL.

Finally, the MLDC held a spring meet-up on Tuesday, March 29, 2016, and will be planning a summer meet-up in anticipation of the annual meeting.