Critical MASS was established in 2010 to assist in supporting behavior change and connections to faculty/staff/graduate student mentors for students who were found responsible for low-level code of student life violations. The program has been extremely successful in matching mentors and mentees, establishing long-term relationships, and creating behavior change.
Students are assigned Critical MASS as a sanction if they are identified as at risk for leaving the University of Iowa as an institution or not being connected with the institution. Through the program, the students are then connected with a mentor who has similar interests/backgrounds as them. Once a mentor/mentee match is assigned, the student meets with their mentor a minimum of 4 times where they talk about goals, opportunities, ways to connect, and the Iowa challenge.
