Mutual Mentoring Guide Draft - University of Massachusetts Amherst

16 Pages·2008·6.45 MB·English

by  Brian Baldi

UMass Amherst | Office of Faculty Development
MUTUAL MENTORING GUIDE
By Mary Deane Sorcinelli and Jung H. Yun
Mentoring has long been viewed as a powerful means of enhancing the
professional well-being of faculty members, especially new and under-
represented faculty.
In response, a number of institutions have developed mentoring programs, often
shaped by the traditional one-on-one mentoring model of a senior faculty
member guiding the career development of his/her protégé. Over the past
decade, however, mentoring has evolved, reflecting new models, research,
approaches, and experiences. This guide describes an innovative, flexible, and
faculty-driven model of “Mutual Mentoring” that encourages faculty at all stages
of the academic career to think differently about how they approach and engage
in mentoring relationships.

For individual faculty, departments, and interdisciplinary groups interested in
enhancing professional development through mentoring, this guide provides
substantive ideas. It includes an overview of mentoring in academia; an
introduction to network-based mentoring; guidelines for protégés and mentors;
suggestions for department chairs; and examples of individual, departmental,
and interdisciplinary mentoring partnerships.
Please note that throughout this guide, we try to avoid the use of the hierarchal
terms “protégé” and “mentor,” preferring instead to refer to the participants in a
Mutual Mentoring relationship by using the more egalitarian “mentoring partners.”
However, we revert to the traditional terms when we believe that doing so will
help promote clarity and amplify the differences between traditional mentoring
and Mutual Mentoring.
Contents:
Part One: Overview of Mentoring in Academia Page 2
Part Two: Introduction to Mutual Mentoring Page 3
Part Three:
Guidelines for Protégés

Page 4 Office of Faculty Development
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Part Four: Guidelines for Mentors Page 7 301 Goodell Building
140 Hicks Way
Part Five: Suggestions for Department Chairs Page 10 Amherst, MA 01003-9272
Phone: [phone]
Part Six: Examples of Team Mentoring Projects Page 11 Fax: [phone]
[email protected]
Part Seven: Examples of Individual Mentoring Projects Page 12 www.umass.edu/ofd/
Part Eight: References Page 13
This guide was made possible by a generous grant
from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
[1]
Part One: Overview of Mentoring in Academia
Mentoring is often cited in the literature of higher education as one
of the few common characteristics of a successful faculty career,
particularly for women and faculty of color. Demonstrated benefits
to protégés include development of skills and intellectual abilities;
engagement in meaningful, substantive tasks; entrée into career
advancement opportunities; and access to advice, encouragement,
and feedback. Protégés, however, are not the only beneficiaries of
mentoring relationships. Mentors benefit from the development of
new career networks, the satisfaction of helping other people
develop professionally, and the acquisition of ideas and feedback
on their own work. Finally, institutions benefit from mentoring
through better retention, an improved working environment for
faculty, and a stronger sense of campus community (Girves,
Zepeda & Gwathmey, 2005).
It can be argued that the need for mentoring and its benefits is
greater today than ever before. Based on our own research, as well
as a comprehensive review of the literature on faculty development
and mentoring, we know that new and under-represented faculty
experience a number of significant challenges that can act as
“roadblocks” to productivity and career advancement. These
include:
• Getting oriented to the institution (understanding the
academic culture; identifying research and teaching
resources; creating a trusted network of colleagues).
• Excelling in research and teaching (locating information on
course design, assignments, grading, technology, and
teaching strategies; developing a research and writing
plan; identifying sources of internal and external funding;
soliciting feedback on manuscripts and grant proposals).
• Managing expectations for performance, particularly the
tenure process (understanding the specifics of the tenure
process; learning about criteria; developing a tenure
dossier; soliciting feedback through the annual faculty
review process).
• Finding collegiality and community (building substantive,
career-enhancing relationships with faculty).
• Creating balance between professional roles and also
between work and family life (prioritizing and balancing
teaching, research, service and personal time). (Sorcinelli
& Yun, 2007; Yun & Sorcinelli, 2008).
Given the wide range of areas in which early-career faculty seek
support, how has mentoring evolved to better address the realities
of academia as experienced by a new generation of scholars? And
how can mentoring help institutions not only recruit and retain their
faculty, but also promote their long-term professional development
and personal well-being? The answer to both these questions
might best be found in the concept of Mutual Mentoring.
[2]
Part Two: Introduction to Mutual Mentoring
Traditionally, mentoring in academia has been defined by a Figure 1.1
top-down, one-on-one relationship in which an experienced or Senior Faculty
senior faculty member guides and supports the career
development of a new or early-career faculty member by
taking him/her “under his/her wing” (See Figure 1.1).
In recent years, however, the literature on professional
development has indicated the emergence of new, more
flexible approaches to mentoring in which no single person is
expected to possess the expertise of many. New and early-
career faculty are now encouraged to seek out “multiple
mentors” (de Janasz & Sullivan, 2004), “constellations” of
mentors (van Emmerik, 2004), and “networks” of mentors
Early-Career and Under-Represented Faculty
(Higgins & Kram, 2001) who can address a variety of career
competencies. The Mutual Mentoring model that we espouse
and encourage is optimized in the following five ways:
•
Mentoring partnerships include a wide variety of
individuals - peers, near peers, tenured faculty, chairs, “Mutual Mentoring encourages early career
administrators, librarians, students, etc. (see Figure and under-represented faculty to build a
1.2); network of support consisting of a variety of
•
Mentoring approaches accommodate the partners’
mentoring partners.”
personal, cultural, and professional preferences for
contact (e.g., one-on-one, small group, team, and/or
online);
•
Partnerships focus on specific areas of experience
and expertise, rather than generalized, “one-size-fits-
Figure 1.2
all” knowledge;
External Mentor
•
There is a reciprocity of benefits between the person
traditionally known as the protégé and the person
traditionally known as the mentor (as the bi-directional
arrows in Figure 1.2 illustrate); and Senior Faculty Peers
•
Perhaps most importantly, new and under-
represented faculty gain a sense of empowerment
when they are not seen or treated solely as the
recipients of mentoring, but as the primary agents of
their own career development.
The next sections of this guide address the ways in which
Administrators Students
faculty members across career stages can work toward
building and participating in strong, productive, and
substantive Mutual Mentoring networks.
Writing Coach
Early-Career and Under-Represented Faculty
[3]
Part Three: Guidelines for Protégés mentor chosen for you (or by you) as part of this
program should not be your only source of
professional support.
The Role of the Protégé
•
Clarify your needs before you begin to identify or

approach potential mentoring partners. “Drill down” to
Establishing a Mutual Mentoring network requires early- the specifics whenever possible. I.e., asking someone
career faculty to be highly proactive and intentional, two key for “help with time management” is different from
attributes of successful professional development (Haring, asking for “help understanding which types of
2005). While some mentoring relationships can and do departmental service commitments will be most
happen “organically,” it is not advisable for early-career manageable while you’re preparing for mini-tenure.”
faculty to wait for a mentor to choose them or be assigned to Knowing what you need helps others determine if they
them, and then hope that the relationship will prove valuable have relevant or useful knowledge to share with you.
over time. Today, the pressures to publish often, teach well, •
For newcomers to an institution (or academia at large),
earn tenure, and juggle the demands of work/life are simply it is often difficult to know what questions to ask a
too great to go it alone. A Mutual Mentoring network mentoring partner, and/or what information is
functions as a safety net of concerned and interested necessary to succeed. Near peers—colleagues who
individuals committed to helping an early-career faculty are close to your career level—can be particularly
member achieve success over the short- and long-term. invaluable in such situations because their
experiences as newcomers are still reasonably fresh.
This section describes some of the ways in which early- Helpful “global” questions to ask include: what do you
career faculty can determine what their mentoring needs are, wish you would have known when you first arrived?
find mentoring partners who fit those needs on a wide variety What were the most unexpected surprises or
of levels, and make the most of their mentoring partners’ obstacles that you encountered along the way? What
knowledge, experience, and skills.
is the most valuable thing you’ve done in support of
your teaching/research/service, etc.?
Characteristics of a Good Protégé •
Ask some key colleagues who they think you should
approach about your specific subjects of interest.
A good protégé… Keep in mind that there are many different ways that
you can “click” with a mentoring partner. Whose
•
Proactively identifies what types of knowledge, research methods are closest to your own? Who
relationships, and support could be potentially teaches classes similar in size to yours? Who uses a
helpful and career-enhancing to a mentoring partner. particular classroom technology that you’re interested
•
Recognizes and accommodates the time in adopting? Who seems like the best overall
constraints of his/her mentoring partners. personality match?
•
Follows up promptly when a mentoring partner •
Extend your mentoring network beyond departmental
offers to make helpful introductions or referrals. colleagues. Identify external scholars who have
•
Asks for – and also provides – feedback on how the significant overlap with your academic specialization.
mentoring relationship is working, or not working. These mentors may serve as knowledgeable reviewers
•
Offers his/her expertise or support whenever of your research and grant proposals. They can
appropriate; understands that the benefits of the introduce you to a broader network of scholars, and
mentoring relationship can be reciprocal. can give you information about other successful
•
Suggests specific options and alternatives to academic models and resources.
improve a mentoring relationship, as needed. •
Look for mentoring partners outside the faculty ranks.
•
Treats all information exchanged with his/her A talented, tech-savvy student may be invaluable in
mentoring partners ethically and confidentially. helping you navigate the learning curve of a new class
management system, while a librarian specializing in
your discipline may be helpful in suggesting hard-to-
To Do List for Protégés
find resources for a research project.
•
After engaging with your new mentoring partners,
•
Your department may have a formal mentoring
clarify expectations as early as possible – yours and
program in place. If so, take advantage of this
theirs. Failed mentoring relationships are often the
important resource, but keep in mind that the
[4]
result of unmet and/or unrealistic expectations. Try •
How is collaborative work viewed within the
to decide (or get a clear sense of) how often the two department/college? Do co-authored articles count
of you would like to or are able to meet; whether in my discipline? Is being first co-author considered
your interaction will be mostly in person or online; if important? Should I put my graduate students’
your mentoring partnership will cover more general names on my papers? How is alphabetical listing of
topics or more specific ones; if there will be a authors viewed?
product or outcome to signal the end of the •
Do conference and workshop papers/presentations
mentoring relationship, etc. count as research in my discipline?
•
Thank and acknowledge your mentoring partners •
Should I give talks within my department? How are
whenever possible and appropriate. colloquia arranged in my department? How do I
•
Remember that information shared by your publicize my work within the department?
mentoring partners is confidential. •
What conferences should I go to? Is it better to go
to national conferences or smaller ones? How much
Suggested Questions to Ask Your Mentoring Partners travel is allowed/expected/demanded?  What
support is available for travel expenses? From
where? How else can I gain the type of exposure I
Getting Started
need for good tenure letters?
•
Would it be advisable to further develop my
•
How is the department, school/college, or university
dissertation or branch out into a new area of
organized?  How are decisions made?  Are there
research?
interpersonal or departmental dynamics that would
•
What is the process of selecting graduate and/or
be helpful to know about?
undergraduate students for my lab?
•
What resources are available (e.g., travel funds,
typing and duplicating, phone, computer
Teaching
equipment, supplies)? Is there support staff? What
should be expected from support staff?
•
What is the normal teaching profile for early-career
•
How does the department fit into the college (or
university) in terms of culture and personnel faculty in my department/college?
•
How many independent studies should I agree to
standards? Do I need to take two sets of standards
sponsor? How do I choose them?
into account when planning my professional
•
How do I find out what the content of a course
development?
•
How much time do I need to spend in my office should be?  Does the department share syllabi,
and/or lab being visible in the department? Is it assignments, etc.?
•
If I teach undergraduate courses, are resources
considered acceptable/appropriate to work from
available for grading, section leadership, etc.? Does
home?
the department/college take the nature of the
•
Are there department or university events that I
should be sure to attend? course into consideration when analyzing student
evaluations of teaching?
•
Does the department use student evaluations?
Research
Does the department use any other methods
beyond student ratings to assess teaching
•
Is there help available for writing grant proposals,
effectiveness?
preparing budgets, etc.? How much time should I
•
How is advising handled in the department? How
spend seeking funds?
many undergraduate advisees should I have? How
•
What kind of publication record is considered
much time should I spend advising them? What
excellent in my department and college? How many
campus resources are available should I have
refereed articles do I need? In what journals? How
questions about degree requirements?
are online journals viewed? Do I need a book?
•
How many graduate student advisees should I
•
How are journal articles or chapters in edited
have? How much time and effort should I invest in
collections viewed? May material published in one
working with graduate students? How do I identify
place (conference, workshop) be submitted to a
“good” graduate students? How aggressive should I
journal? How much work is necessary to make it a
be in recruiting them? Do I need to find resources
“new publication”?
[5]
for them? What should I expect from them? How do •
Do I need to “read between the lines” in my annual
I promote my graduate students to the rest of the evaluation? I.e., will someone tell me explicitly if
community? there are specific concerns about my performance?
•
What is considered an appropriate response to a
student who is struggling with course work or is Balancing Professional and Personal Life
clearly troubled in some way? What resources are
available for students? What can/should I suggest?
•
What are the resources for meeting and socializing
•
What kinds of files should I keep on my students? 
with other new faculty?
•
What am I expected to teach? Should I ask to teach •
Where can I get help with dual career issues,
service courses? Should I teach the same course, childcare, and other personal concerns? 
stay within a single area, or teach around? Should I
•
What sort of support is available to me through the
develop a new course? An undergraduate
campus and surrounding communities?
course? A specialized course in my research area?
•
Where can I find advice on balancing a professional
•
How do I establish an excellent teaching life (e.g., teaching, research, service) with a personal
record?  What resources are available at the life (e.g., time for significant others, children, leisure,
department/college/university level to help me do
civic responsibilities)?
so?
•
Are there department guidelines for grading? What
is the usual frequency of midterms, exams, or
graded assignments?
•
What documentation on teaching and advising
should I retain for my personnel file?
Service
•
What kind of service to the department, college, and
university is expected of me?
•
What kind of outreach is expected of me?
•
When should I begin service and outreach? How
much should I take on?
•
Are there committees I should seek out as a new
faculty member? Any I should turn down if I am
asked to serve?
•
How much service to the profession or communities
outside of the university is recommended or
expected?
•
How do I develop and document an excellent record
of service and outreach?
Tenure and/or Evaluation Processes
•
What is the approximate balance between research,
teaching, and service that I should aim for?
•
How important is the annual faculty report in merit,
reappointment, tenure, and promotion decisions in
my department? What sort of documentation of my
achievements will help me succeed in these
decisions?
•
What kind of record-keeping strategies can I adopt
to make compiling my annual faculty report and/or
tenure package both accurate and manageable?
[6]
Part Four: Guidelines for Mentors setting, guiding, promoting, problem solving,
navigating political shoals)?
•
Make contact with your mentoring partner as soon
The Role of the Mentor
as possible and establish a regular meeting time,
perhaps for coffee or lunch.
Results of numerous studies suggest that intellectual, social, •
Get to know your mentoring partner, his/her
and resource support from senior colleagues, chairs, deans, circumstances and concerns, and be willing to
and campus administrators may be critical to attracting, share information and perspectives. Also, it may be
developing, and retaining new and under-represented faculty difficult for a new or early-career faculty member to
(Bensimon, Ward & Sanders, 2000; Rice, Sorcinelli & Austin, approach you with problems or questions, so
2000). In particular, findings point to the importance of the suggesting topics for discussion or asking
essential mentoring role played by individuals within an questions may be helpful.
early-career faculty member’s department, including other •
Remember that information shared by your
early-career faculty, more senior colleagues, and the mentoring partner is confidential. A breach of
department chair. confidentiality can irreparably damage even the
best mentoring relationships. To avoid this, make
What issues and opportunities should colleagues be aware clear decisions about confidentiality early on,
of in supporting early-career faculty? The guidelines and agreeing that what you say to each other needs to
suggestions in this section can be used to reflect on how to be held in confidence.
create an effective and supportive mentoring partnership, to •
Offer your mentoring partner “insider’s advice”
prepare for mentoring sessions, and/or to identify areas for about the campus, department, or profession. What
learning that might contribute to further development as a do you know now that you wish you had known
mentoring partner. earlier in your career? What were the roadblocks
that you encountered along the way? What have
Characteristics of a Good Mentor you learned? How do your experiences compare
with those of your mentoring partner?
A good mentor… •
Provide support and help with any questions or
problems that might arise relating to professional
•
Is willing to share his/her knowledge and academic and/or personal matters. You don’t need to have
career experience. the answer for every question. Rather, you can act
•
Listens actively and non-judgmentally – not only to as a resource or a guide and direct your mentoring
what is being said, but also to how it is said. partner to the appropriate office or person who can
help.
•
Asks open and supportive questions that stimulate
reflection and makes suggestions without being •
Focus on your mentoring partner’s development;
prescriptive. you should respond to his/her needs and to what
•
Gives thoughtful, candid, and constructive he/she is looking for in the relationship. This might
feedback on performance, and asks for the same. mean helping your mentoring partner sort out
expectations and priorities for the relationship.
•
Provides emotional and moral encouragement,
remaining accessible through regular meetings, •
Provide constructive feedback. Help your
emails, calls, etc. mentoring partner solve his/her own problem rather
•
Acts as an advocate for his/her mentoring partner, than giving him/her directions. Remember, you are
brokering relationships and aiding in obtaining not directing or evaluating your mentoring partner –
you are assisting, coaching, and supporting.
opportunities.
•
Introduce your mentoring partner to colleagues
outside of the department and institution whenever
To Do List for Mentors
possible and appropriate. These colleagues might
be in the same field or specialization, use similar
•
Consider your own motivation for being a mentor.
research methods, have parallel teaching interests,
How will your experience and expertise contribute
or be at a similar or different career stage.
to the relationship? What concrete things can you
Connections with different faculty will encourage
do to help your mentoring partner? What skills are
your mentoring partner to build a network of
your strengths as a mentor (e.g., coaching, goal
[7]
mentors who can offer specific knowledge, skills, discussions about writing projects, colloquia for
and new perspectives. ideas in progress, and visiting scholar presentations.
•
Look for opportunities to connect face-to-face, but •
Introduce your mentoring partner to departmental
also explore other options for connecting (e.g., and/or interdisciplinary research groups to provide
telephone, email, videoconferencing, etc.). an avenue for co-authored papers and co-authored/
•
Mentoring is one of many other personal and collaborative grant-writing or research projects (if
professional commitments that you and your viewed positively in your department).
mentoring partner are juggling. Be open to setting a •
Help your mentoring partner identify on-campus
mutually reasonable number of meetings, and external resources for research, such as
rescheduling meetings if necessary, calling a “time- sessions on professors as writers, grant proposal
out” during a particularly busy month, or writing workshops, summer research grants, and
acknowledging that the relationship may be moving funds for travel to professional meetings.
toward closure.
Teaching
Suggested Activities to Do with Your Mentoring Partner
•
Provide information to your mentoring partner about
Getting Started teaching, such as a profile of students, sample
syllabi, teaching exercises, technology resources,
and office hours.
•
Introduce your mentoring partner to colleagues and
•
Discuss teaching norms such as course structures,
“useful” people in the department/school, so he/she
assignments, and exam questions as well as
can benefit from a range and variety of colleagues.
•
Show a new faculty member the physical layout and departmental standards for fairly assessing and
resources of the department and campus, as well as grading students’ work.
•
Visit your mentoring partner’s classroom and
to explain any local rules, customs, and practices. 
provide constructive feedback – and invite your
•
Help your mentoring partner find basic information
mentoring partner to visit your classes.
on teaching, research, and administrative
responsibilities in your department, college, and/or •
Encourage your mentoring partner to connect with
university (e.g., course management system, forms the teaching and learning center on campus, in
particular to access processes that provide early,
for annual faculty review, office of grants and
formative feedback on teaching (e.g., confidential
contracts).
midterm feedback from students), but also for
•
Explain the various support systems within your
college or university (e.g., the ombudsperson, workshops, teaching fellowships, and grants.
psychological services, learning and other student •
Discuss key student issues, such as advising,
sponsoring independent study, and working with
support services).
and supervising graduate students.
•
Discuss how to deal with student problems, such as
Research
issues of motivation, class management, emotional
difficulties, students who are under-prepared for a
•
Discuss your mentoring partner’s research focus. Is
course, and what to do about cheating and
he/she developing a consistent theme, theory or
academic dishonesty.
model, and direction?
•
Discuss how colleagues in the department get,
•
Advise on the kind of publications that are
interpret, and use feedback on teaching from
considered “first-tier” in your department and
students, peers, and teaching improvement
estimate a realistic benchmark in terms of the kinds
consultants so your mentoring partner can improve
and numbers of articles, monographs, or books
his/her teaching and student learning.
expected.
•
Encourage discussions about teaching and learning
•
Suggest appropriate journals for publication – both
among the early-career and senior colleagues in
traditional and online, if appropriate – and offer
your department and/or college.
feedback on the writing of research articles and
•
Recommend a guidebook for your mentoring
conference papers.
partner, such as Teaching Tips (McKeachie and
•
Encourage participation in departmental and/or
Svinicki, 2006).
interdisciplinary research activities, such as informal
[8]
Service •
Provide information and facilitate access to non-
academic resources in the area, such as housing,
•
Advise your mentoring partner on what kinds and schools, child care options, as well as cultural,
amount of service and/or outreach are expected in entertainment, and sporting events both on- and
the department. off-campus.
•
Advise your mentoring partner on how to select
administrative duties and committee work that will
support his/her research and teaching agenda (e.g.,
graduate student admissions and departmental
speaker series).
•
Be alert to whether or not your mentoring partner’s
service to the department, school, university or
external organizations is perhaps hindering his/her
accumulation of evidence for tenure, and share your
concerns with your mentoring partner.
Tenure and/or Evaluation Processes
•
Help your mentoring partner set challenging but
realistic goals that match the particular mission and
resources of your department and align with the
central missions of your college or university.
•
Encourage your mentoring partner to keep an
ongoing log or record of his/her scholarly activities
in teaching and learning, research, service, and
outreach.
•
Regularly solicit feedback from your mentoring
partner about his/her experience with the tenure
process.
•
Encourage your mentoring partner to attend
department, college, or campus-level seminars on
preparing for tenure.
Balancing Professional and Personal Life
•
Help your mentoring partner set up a plan of short-
and long-term goals, and encourage your partner to
measure progress and success on the goals
identified.
•
Share your experiences of setting priorities,
managing time, handling stress, and balancing
workload effectively. 
•
Connect your mentoring partner to special
resources or networks on-campus that might be of
relevance and support (e.g., networks for women or
faculty of color).
•
Link your mentoring partner to information and
services for dual-career couples and for flexible
employee benefits such as parental leaves, flexible
time limits for tenure, part-time status for child-
rearing, and childcare.
[9]
Part Five: Suggestions for Department Chairs •
Give frequent, accurate feedback. Formally
evaluate all early career faculty at least once a year.
If you are a chair, you play a particularly important role in Highlight what is going well, clarify what merits
setting the tone and agenda for mentoring early-career attention, and offer concrete suggestions for
faculty in your department. The following suggestions focus improvement through discussion and written
on your mentoring role, not only for professional comments.
development but also for personnel decision-making. They •
Encourage your pre-tenure faculty to explore
also encourage a model in which the entire department is options such as "stopping the clock" or counting
collectively responsible for establishing and maintaining a previous work for credit to "early tenure," based on
culture of Mutual Mentoring. individual circumstances.
•
Encourage an ongoing discussion of the tenure
The Chair as a Mentoring Partner
process and the values that inform it through
departmental meetings, written guidelines,
•
Help manage new faculty members’ transition by
seminars, etc.
providing an orientation to the department,
•
Work with your personnel committee to create clear
including information on departmental
criteria for the tenure process so standards don’t
expectations, policies for promotion and tenure,
change when/if the tenure review committee
collegial culture, and the names and “faces” of
experiences turnover.
departmental faculty and key staff. Urge new
•
Appoint pre-tenure faculty each year to sit on the
faculty to also attend college and campus-wide
personnel committee to provide more information
orientations (and accompany them if invited).
on the tenure review process.
•
Facilitate the acquisition of resources (adequate
office, lab, studio space, a computer) and staff Building a Program at the Departmental Level
support (e.g., research assistants, clerical
personnel, technicians) to ensure new faculty •
Assess the needs of pre-tenure faculty (e.g., hold
receive timely assistance and can meet your individual discussions or focus groups) to better
department’s expectations for tenure. understand the state of mentoring in your
•
Assign new faculty courses that fit their interests department and to inform planning, development,
and priorities and offer fewer courses or, at the very and modification of a mentoring program.
least, fewer preparations during the first year or two •
Ask a broadly representative group of faculty to
of appointment. explore different mentoring models and recommend
•
Support a flexible leave program to allow pre-tenure a context-specific, workable departmental program
faculty to complete scholarly projects before tenure (e.g., assigned or self-selected mentoring partners,
review. a mentoring committee for each new faculty,
•
Encourage new faculty to seek out research and multiple mentors of limited term, mentors outside
teaching development activities beyond the the department). For examples of departmental
department (e.g., teaching and learning center, mentoring programs, see Part Six.
office of research support, library, office of •
Check department schedules and the campus
academic computing). calendar to minimize scheduling conflicts, overlap in
•
Be especially mindful of under-represented faculty mentoring activities, and over-scheduling. Consider
to ensure that they are protected from excessive that attendance at early breakfast, dinner or evening
committee assignments and student advising prior sessions may be difficult for faculty with families.
to tenure. •
Encourage mentoring partners to set concrete
goals, to develop a roadmap or specific steps for
Tenure and/or Evaluation Processes
each meeting (how to get from here to there), and to
measure their progress along the way.
•
Sponsor a yearly meeting for all pre-tenure faculty
•
Help clarify the roles of mentoring partners early on;
during which you review the specific details of the
this guide can provide a useful starting point for
tenure process, including the names of evaluators,
such a discussion.
timetables and deadlines, the kinds of information
•
Build responsibility for nurturing new colleagues into
needed for tenure files, and what pieces faculty
the evaluation of senior faculty and seek ways to
members are responsible for collecting and
recognize and reward senior faculty members for
submitting (e.g., record of professional activities,
the time spent working with their early-career
names of outside reviewers). Be sure to invite the
colleagues.
tenure review committee to the meeting.
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