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Executive Summary

Monitoring Dept. Health and Welfare

Transparency in Operations

Creating a Welcoming Climate

Mentoring

Valuing Diversity in the Dept.

Supporting Pre-Tenure Faculty Career Development

Encouraging Mid-Career Professional Development

Faculty Development Programs, Benefits, & Resources

Flexible and Accommodating Policies & Practices

Acknowledgements

References

MENTORING

Mentoring is a powerful tool for creating a welcoming department climate, fostering a sense of community, and supporting faculty careers. A number of colleges and universities have made mentoring a central part of retention.  Mentors are more than just people to talk to; they are people who actively advocate and create opportunities for their mentees. Mentors and mentoring programs cannot ensure career success, but can serve as useful resources for faculty at all ranks.

MULTIPLE MENTORS:

Faculty can benefit from multiple mentors at different levels, as each mentor may have different strengths.  Unfortunately, faculty who are not well connected to the community, such as faculty from underrepresented fields or backgrounds, may not receive mentoring; as a result, each of these faculty must reinvent the wheel to discover existing resources and networks.  A formal mentoring program can aid career development at all faculty levels, but is particularly important for pre-tenure faculty.   Some examples of what mentors do include 

• create bridges for their mentees and connect them to the community 
• provide feedback on papers, proposals (such as NSF CAREER proposals), or teaching
• help navigate the organizational structure and politics
• serve as a sounding board
• collaborate on projects of mutual interest

Well-mentored faculty will be outstanding contributors to the department and have higher levels of satisfaction.   Finally, it is worth pointing out that mentoring goes both ways and the senior mentor is also likely to benefit from collaboration with the mentee.

AVOIDING CONFLICT OF INTEREST:

A person may feel a conflict of interest when mentored by people in his or her own department, particularly if the mentor is part of the evaluation process (i.e. P&T committee).  One way to alleviate this conflict of interest is to match new faculty with retired, but still research-active, faculty mentors (implemented at Portland State University).  Deans or department chairs could recruit these faculty members to serve as mentors. Because retired faculty are no longer part of the promotion and tenure process, pre-tenure faculty may feel safer confiding in them.

Last Updated: July 07, 2005

advance@engr.washington.edu

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