Success on the Tenure Track: Five Keys to Faculty Job Satisfaction

H: Mentoring at the University of Iowa

* Mentoring at the University of Iowa * Cathy Ann Trower 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. Participants in the program (mentors and protégés) will move through the program as a cohort. The mentor’s role is to provide career functions such as sponsorship, coaching, etc., and psychosocial functions such as role modeling and counseling. The exact functions appropriate to an academic setting need to be specified. The identification of mentors and protégés is a critical issue for program success. Because “the chemistry” of the mentor-protégé relationship is so important, the matching process should carefully consider personality characteristics of the prospective participants. Protégé candidates may nominate up to three faculty members, any of whom could serve as a mentor. Exact benefits to the mentor of program participation need to be specified in advance. Possible benefits include reduced collegiate committee assignments, partial summer support, release time, etc. Program participation should require explicitly stated responsibilities for both the mentor and the protégé. These include established criteria for frequency and duration of contract. Withdrawal from the program by either mentor or protégé is permitted at any time without penalty. Orientation, training, and support should be provided to program participants. The mentoring program should be evaluated frequently to monitor goal achievement for mentors, protégés, and the College. 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 timesPage 237 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. Faculty Mentor Program Policy Statement. Each Department in the College of Engineering shall establish a mentor program for tenure-track faculty members. The program shall be informal and unofficial with voluntary participation. 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 could include, but not be 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. The DEO of each Department shall explain the mentor program and introduce potential volunteer mentor or mentors from the senior faculty, with their prior consent, to each tenure-track faculty member. A tenure-track faculty member who decides to participate may then choose a mentor, or a group of mentors. Suggestions made by a mentor are informal and unofficial. All participants are free to terminate their participation in the program at any time. Page 238The program is not a replacement for existing procedures such as annual reviews and guidance from the DEO. Questions and inquiries...