Initial Publication Date: September 26, 2012
Making Use of Mentors
Mentoring from experienced faculty, whether from within or outside of one's own department or institution, can be beneficial to faculty at any career stage. Effective mentors can answer questions, offer guidance and perspective, and suggest additional resources.
Jump down to additional resources on: Mentoring Organization | Mentoring as Professional Development and Support | Mentoring Students
Workshop and Conference Presentations
Scenario: A Glimpse of a Mentoring Relationship in its Third Year (Microsoft Word 46kB Mar19 12) and Mentoring of Early-Stage Faculty—Myths and Missing Elements (Microsoft Word 40kB Mar19 12)
×These handouts are from a session let by Joanne Moody (Joanne Moody Consulting) at the 2010 Minority Faculty Development Workshop. The scenario document provides a script example of a mentoring session with discussion questions and the "Mentoring of Early Stage Faculty" document provides a table of contents and reactions from readers of Moody's booklet entitled Guidelines for Mentors and Mentees; Provosts, Deans, and Department Chairs; and Organizers and Evaluators of Formal Mentoring Programs (2009).
Mentoring Organization
- MentorNet is an e-mentoring network that addresses the retention and success of those in engineering, science and mathematics, particularly but not exclusively women and other underrepresented groups. Graduate students and untenured faculty members are eligible for one-on-one email-based mentoring by tenured faculty.
Mentoring as Professional Development and a Network of Opportunities and Support
- Mutual Mentoring Guide, by Mary Deane Sorcinelli and Jung H. Yun, offers information for mentors, proteges, and departments for setting up a 'mutual mentoring program' in order to enhance professional development.
- Academic mentoring is central to professional development, an article by Janni Aragon published in The Guardian, explores the importance of mentoring in professional development and networking.
- Every Other Thursday: Stories and Strategies From Successful Women Scientists, by Ellen Daniell, tells the story of a group of women faculty that empowered its members by providing practical and emotional support though group support, discussion, and application of common experience that brought to light practical solutions and broader perspectives.
Mentoring Students
- What Mentors Do, by Lois J. Zachary, and part of Rick Reis' Tomorrow's Professor email list, looks at some of the ways by which mentors can facilitate student learning.
- The Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (CoSEPuP) of the National Research Council has written a thorough, peer-reviewed report called Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend: On Being a Mentor to Students in Science and Engineering.