Part of a collection of papers commissioned by Foundations, a project designed to identify the career development needs of postsecondary hearing impaired students, this paper examines the use of mentors as a teaching strategy. The initial section reviews historical aspects of the reintroduction of mentors in modern education. Three major forms of teaching--lecturing, didactic, and evocative teaching modes--are analyzed. Section 2 reviews the mentorship experiment underway for the past 10 years at Empire State College. The mentor role emphasizes advisement, intellectual development, and evaluation. The mentor/student relationship is addressed and findings from research on mentorship are reviewed. The central features of caring, knowing, trust, patience, and courage in the student/mentor relationship are examined. Implications for hearing impaired students are considered in a discussion of a program at Empire State College directed to hearing impaired students. Recommendations for designing and establishing a mentor position at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf are offered. (CL)