Faculty Mentoring Resources

Historically, mentoring has served an essential role in faculty development.  The literature demonstrates, for example, that faculty involved in mentoring relationships are more likely to have access to important career opportunities and networks. Teaching and research improve, as do job satisfaction and a sense of organizational belonging.  While mentoring is especially important in a faculty member’s early career development, the engagement of collegial peer learning, advising, and mentoring can strengthen faculty leadership through all career stages.

University of Iowa Faculty Mentoring Programs

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• Tippie College of Business. The College supports a formal but voluntary mentoring program for probationary tenure track faculty members with fewer than three years of full-time experience.
• College of Dentistry. Web site under construction.  For more information about the College of Dentistry Junior Faculty Seminar Series, contact Dr. Jed Hand, Executive Associate Dean.
• College of Education. The College of Education holds a New Faculty Orientation at the beginning of fall semester for new hires.  New faculty meet as a group with the Deans and DEOs to discuss key policies and procedures and to learn about the different programs in the College.  A tour of the College introduces faculty to staff in the main departments.  New faculty are introduced to the College as a whole at the Faculty and Staff Meeting and picnic lunch the following day.
  
  The College provides mentoring to the New Faculty Group, which includes faculty in their first three years.  The College arranges informational sessions several times each semester on topics such as services available in the Office of Teacher Education and Student Services, library orientation, grant services and funding opportunities, grant management, promotion and tenure, annual reviews, Old Gold Summer Fellowships, handling difficult students, managing graduate assistants and advising, understanding faculty benefits, working with staff, etc.  There is a social gathering each semester for this group to strengthen cross-departmental connections.
  
  With some variation by department, mentoring relationships are established for new faculty by matching them with senior faculty members with similar research interests, and/or by identifying individuals in the College who match the personal characteristics and type of support the new faculty member seeks.  Mentoring on policies and procedures is provided by DEOs and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Graduate Programs.
• College of Engineering Faculty Mentor Program. The main purpose of the mentor program is to provide unofficial, informal, and confidential assistance and suggestions to tenure-track faculty members. The program can include, but is not limited to, matters concerning students such as advising, grading policies, office hours, and use of TAs and RAs; providing information on publishing and funding environments; reading and critiquing grant proposals and journal articles; and College and Department dynamics.
• College of Law. The College of Law provides both formal and informal mentoring.  In consultation with the Dean, the pre-tenure faculty member formally chooses a tenured  person  as a mentor, and that person must be agreeable to accepting the responsibility throughout the pre-tenure period.  The mentor provides advice  in a nonevaluative fashion concerning various aspects of the  teaching, scholarship and service missions.  Informally, many colleagues  may provide  additional assistance.
• College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Overview of Mentoring Programs. The primary responsibility for mentoring faculty rests with departments. Because of the great breadth and variety of programs within the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, each department has flexibility in developing mentoring programs that will work for its faculty, given its size and discipline. Several large departments have very structured programs that are formally linked to the promotion and tenure process; others have simpler formal programs that may or may not play a role in reviewing faculty. For more information, contact Executive Associate Dean Raúl Curto.
• Carver College of Medicine Faculty Mentoring Program. For optimum effectiveness, faculty mentoring must be instituted at the departmental level. Each department is encouraged to structure a faculty mentoring system that fits the particular needs of the faculty and department. The Office of Faculty Affairs can assist departments in this effort by providing guidance on the development of a successful mentoring program, resources on successful mentoring, and other assistance as needed.  The website includes several resources, including the CCOM’s "A Practical Guide to Mentoring."  
• Committee on Institutional Cooperation Academic Leadership Program (CIC-ALP) . Established in 1987, the Academic Leadership Program (ALP) is designed to develop the leadership and managerial skills of faculty on CIC campuses who have demonstrated exceptional ability and administrative promise. For more information, contact Susan Johnson (susan-johnson@uiowa.edu), UI CIC-ALP Liaison.
• Office of the Provost Faculty Development Programs. Numerous programs and organizations provide support and mentoring to faculty at The University of Iowa through the Office of the Provost Office of Faculty Development.  Faculty development programs are available at all career stages (i.e., early career, mid-career, and emeriti), and programs range from resources, workshops, leadership opportunities, organizations, and development grants. The New Faculty Newsletter provides useful tips for early career faculty and faculty new to The University of Iowa.
• University of Iowa Mentoring Task Force Report, The (2006). 
• University of Iowa Press. The editors at the University of Iowa Press--Joe Parsons, acquiring editor; Charlotte Wright, managing editor; and Holly Carver, director--are pleased to advise new University of Iowa faculty about the world of university press publishing, from the initial query letter to the final contract.

Other campus organizations that offer informal mentoring and networking opportunities include:

• African American Council
• Asian American Coalition
• Council on Disability Awareness
• Council on the Status of Latinos
• Council on the Status of Women
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Staff and Faculty Association

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Resources at Other Institutions

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• Association for Women in Science - Mentoring Project. Describes the background and history of the Association for Women in Science Mentoring Project and describes how to become or find a mentor. Includes a set of references. Focus is on increasing the number of women who pursue careers as science and engineering professionals.
• Big 12 Faculty Fellowship Program.
• Black Academic.com.  BlackAcademic.com is an online mentoring portal for Black and Latino faculty, post-docs, and graduate students, as well as those who are committed to their success. The program provides resources and services for individual scholars, institutional clients, and professional organizations.   
• Kansas State University Mentoring Program.
• MentorNet®.  The E-Mentoring Network for Diversity in Engineering and Science.
• Michigan State University - Office of Faculty and Organizational Development - Faculty Mentoring.
• Penn State University - Commission for Women Mentoring Program.
• Stanford University School of Medicine - Faculty Mentoring Program.
• Tomorrow’s Professor℠.  "Desktop Faculty Development, One Hundred Times A Year."
• University of California, San Diego - Faculty Mentoring Program Guidelines.
• University of California, San Francisco - Mentoring Tips.
• University of Illinois - Asian American Cultural Center Mentoring Program.  A staff, faculty, student, and community mentoring program for Asian American students.
• University of Michigan
  
  • ADVANCE Program - Giving and Getting Career Advice:  A Guide for Junior and Senior Faculty - tenure-track (pdf);  Giving and Getting Career Advice:  A Guide for Junior and Senior Research Faculty (pdf).
  • Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) - Resources on Faculty Mentoring.
  • Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies - How to Mentor Graduate Students: A Guide for Faculty at a Diverse University (pdf). Topics include: What Is Mentoring?; The Benefits of Mentoring; Before You Start; The Basics of Good Mentorship; At the First Meetings; Clarifying Expectations; General Advice to Give to Graduate Students; How Departments Can Encourage Mentoring. Also includes a section on Mentorship Issues Within a Diverse Community.
• University of Nebraska at Lincoln - Mentoring Program.
• University of Ottawa - Faculty of Medicine - Mentoring Handbook (pdf). A brief handbook that provides useful guidelines and helpful hints on mentoring. Includes basic concepts, function and use of meetings, and mentoring pitfalls.
• University of Washington Center for Instructional Development and Research - Mentoring (pdf). A brief tabular summary of suggestions for mentors and mentees on how to get the most out of mentoring relationships. From CIDR Bulletin, Vol. 4, No. 4, 2001.
• University of Wisconsin-Madison
  
  • Center for Biology Education - Finding a Mentor.  Includes information about, for example: finding out about potential mentors, reading about a potential mentor's area of research, approaching a potential mentor, following up on your initial contact with the mentor, meeting with a potential mentor.
  • College of Agricultural and Life Sciences - Handbook for Faculty and Staff Leadership Mentors (pdf).
  • The Wisconsin Program for Scientific Thinking - Entering Mentoring:  A Seminar to Train a New Generation of Scientists (pdf).  Handelsman, Jo, Pfund, C, Lauffer, S.M., Pribbenow, C. M. (2005).
  • Women Faculty Mentoring Program. The program seeks to support and retain women assistant professors throughout the tenure process.
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Center for Educational Development and Assessment (CEDA) New Faculty Mentoring Program. CEDA is dedicated to providing support for the enhancement and assessment of teaching and learning at WPI.  This site features forms and structure for their New Faculty mentoring program.

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