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Vice President, Office of Transformational and Inclusive Excellence
Hanna House
513-529-1715
vpDiversity@MiamiOH.edu
Faculty mentoring holds significant value for both mentors and mentees, as well as for their overall success at Miami University. This mentoring program is designed to create a supportive and structured framework for tenure-line faculty at Miami University, ultimately enhancing their professional development and increasing their likelihood of successfully achieving tenure and promotion. Additionally, faculty mentoring creates a welcoming environment, increasing a sense of belonging, fostering a culture of support and collaboration, and contributing to a positive and inclusive environment for diverse faculty members.
A university-wide tenure-line faculty mentoring program is being piloted in Spring 2024 and will be implemented during the 2024-2025 academic year to provide formal and uniform mentoring across academic units at Miami University.
The program began in 2023 when the inaugural Inclusive Excellence Fellows, Anita Mannur (English) and Haifei Shi (Biology) applied to become Fellows. The fellowship was created by the Office of Transformational and Inclusive Excellence (OTIE), in partnership with the Office of the Provost, in recognition of the efforts and role of faculty in fostering a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable Miami. Mannur was inspired to apply for the Fellows program, as she saw the program as “a great opportunity to think about what I value as a professor and how I can try and change Miami’s institutional culture.” Mannur was seeking more structure from Miami with more resources and support, and hoped the Fellows program would provide faculty with these networks. During her tenure in the program, Mannur collaborated with Faculty Fellow Haifei Shi on the research and creation of a pilot mentoring program for tenure-track faculty. Mannur noted, “As faculty, so much stuff is individualized, but we want to start a cohort or small groups for this mentoring program, which will hopefully draw in faculty to participate. Ideally, this would become a more permanent program for continued support for faculty members.” Mannur was inspired to apply for the Fellows program, as she saw the program as “a great opportunity to think about what I value as a professor and how I can try and change Miami’s institutional culture.” Mannur was seeking more structure from Miami with more resources and support, and hoped the Fellows program would provide faculty with these networks.
Professor Haifei Shi was drawn to the program for similar reasons. Professor Shi was inspired to apply for the Fellows program, as she aspires to create and further a sense of faculty belonging on campus. She notes, “When I came to Miami, I had senior professors guiding me through different processes and ambiguous requirements. I received a lot of support and mentoring, and I want to provide this support to my colleagues, especially junior, woman and minority faculty members.”
Do you want professional advice from a more experienced colleague? Do you want to meet and learn from other tenured faculty in your department or division? Form lasting relationships that help?
As a mentee, you will benefit from peer insights on how to navigate the institutional terrain at Miami, receive advice on how to balance the demands of teaching, service, and life, meet colleagues within and outside your department, and expand your professional networks. Apply today!
Do you want to be a mentor? Do you want to share your institutional experience and knowledge with tenure-track faculty at Miami? Do you want to build deeper professional connections with other faculty in your department or division?
As a mentor, you will gain university-level service, give back by contributing to the professional growth of a colleague, expand your professional network at Miami, and contribute to retaining our valuable faculty. Apply today!
Participation in the Faculty Mentoring Program is open to tenure line faculty across all campuses. Mentors and mentees decide together the parameters of their relationship, the frequency of their interactions, and the best way to meet (in person, virtually, or both).
The Tenure Track Faculty Mentoring Program supports mentors' and mentees' need to have meaningful conversations about their growth as professionals at Miami. We strive to match mentees with mentors from the same division, whenever possible. If this is not possible, we assign mentoring from cognate disciplines.
This project is part of the Inclusive Excellence Faculty Fellows initiatives, which is a collaborative effort between the Office of Transformational and Inclusive Excellence (OTIE) and the Office of the Provost. This initiative was created in recognition of the efforts and role of faculty in fostering a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable Miami. This program is a professional development opportunity for faculty to deepen their knowledge and expertise as leaders in actively advancing change.
For questions about the program, please feel free to reach out to otie@miamioh.edu.
Faculty mentoring is a formalized structured and supportive relationship between junior tenure-line faculty members and more experienced colleagues serving as mentors within an academic institution.
Faculty mentoring helps to develop an academic atmosphere that mutually nurtures, supports, and develops faculty members’ teaching and research skills. Faculty mentoring also assists faculty members so that they feel part of the university community. The primary goal of tenure-line faculty mentoring is to guide and support junior faculty as they navigate the challenges and expectations associated with pursuing tenure. Faculty mentoring is a critical component of academic success, contributing to the overall professional and personal development of faculty members.
Here are some key aspects of the value of faculty mentoring:
In summary, faculty mentoring is invaluable for fostering and supporting professional development, knowledge transfer, community building, and overall success within academic institutions. The mentor-mentee relationship is a reciprocal and mutually beneficial arrangement that contributes to the growth and well-being of both parties and the institution as a whole.
The Tenure Track Faculty Mentoring program is a university-level, faculty-led program intended to provide tenure-line faculty with supportive relationships and experienced guidance around all aspects of academic life. This support and guidance provides faculty with outstanding foundations for career success to excel in their academic roles, support the tenure and promotion process, and foster their professional development.
This program supports team mentoring as an effective mechanism that complements the individual mentor approach. Mentees may have more than one mentor from inside and outside their academic units. Mentors provide advice on issues that are central to professional success, including available institutional resources, networking, time management, service, work/life balance, and on how to navigate departmental cultures. This community would mutually support, develop, and nurture both mentees and mentors in their scholarship and skills, so that they feel part of the Miami community.
The focus of this mentoring program is on the whole career, including research, teaching and service towards tenure, as well as guidance on how to engage members of the community at the department, college, and university levels. Mentoring, including group mentoring, creates space for consensus, brainstorming and strategy development. This program complements and functions alongside any existing departmental or divisional mentoring efforts, but it is focused on the unique mentoring needs of tenure-line faculty. To learn about other mentoring opportunities at Miami, contact your academic department and division or check out our links for additional resources.
The program runs for each academic year, from September to May. The mentoring pairs are re-formulated each fall, but participants can choose to stay in the same mentoring pair if they continue into the program.
The mentor and mentee will cultivate a working relationship for one academic year, although this can be extended, if both parties agree. The major role of the mentor is to guide their mentees as they construct their professional development plan, prepare their annual activities as a living dossier, and/or apply for promotion. To build a successful, trusting, and mutually beneficial mentor-mentee relationship that enhances the professional development of both mentees and mentors, clear expectations and responsibilities for both parties need to be established by mentors and mentees. These will be different depending on the needs. Below are some examples.
Some examples of mentor responsibilities:
Some examples of mentee responsibilities:
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Our mission is to empower each student, staff, and faculty member to promote and become engaged citizens who use their acquired knowledge and skills with integrity and compassion to improve the future of the community and the world.
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