Department chairs and program directors can take many steps to increase the chances of success for faculty members within the department or program through purposeful mentoring. Mentoring can be offered individually or in groups by the chair or by an assigned faculty peer. It can be accomplished through multiple venues, including informal office meetings, email, campus events, shadowing a faculty member (by agreement), touring a lab, travel support, phone calls, meals and coffee breaks, professional meetings, symposia, conferences, or workshops.
Goals
Provide information about promotion and tenure processes
Demystify departmental, divisional, and university culture
Provide constructive and supportive feedback on specific work or career goals
Provide encouragement and support
Help to foster important connections
Suggested Topics
Departmental culture
Key resources on campus
Grant sources; strategies for funding
Publishing outlets
Teaching
Key conferences to attend
Service roles inside and outside the University
Student recruitment
Career goals and pathways, including future administrative roles
Tenure and promotion processes
Departmental Governance
Work-life balance
Opportunities for recreation or involvement in region
Tips for Chairs & Directors
Build into the evaluations of senior faculty a share of responsibility for mentoring new colleagues. Have senior faculty document in their annual report their efforts to assist and mentor junior faculty members.
Take multiple opportunities to communicate to colleagues the importance of mentoring their colleagues.
Ensure that procedures and standards involved in tenure and promotion processes are clear to appropriate faculty.
Ensure that all faculty know about policies intended to ease work-family conflict such as stopping the tenure clock.
Share the department’s governance document with the faculty member.
Create regular opportunities that encourage informal interaction between all levels of faculty. You might create a fund for ordering pizza or buying coffee for faculty to use when mentoring.
Provide a “tip sheet” for new faculty. Possible items to include: how to secure an ID card, sign up for insurance and benefits; contact information for people for key services in the department or University; and where to go for support (centers, offices).
Provide senior faculty with guidelines and information on how to mentor junior colleagues.
Make the expectations and criteria for promotion clear.
Meet regularly and individually with faculty, and give frequent and accurate feedback to all faculty.
