Workshop on Mentoring Faculty

1. Workshop on Mentoring Faculty September 25, 2013 3:00-5:15 Faculty Senate Chambers Sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity

2. Agenda • Introductions • Overview of best practices and research on mentoring • Goals and expectations for mentoring • Practical matters: Schedule, frontloading, critical incidents, constructive feedback • Dysfunctional behaviors • Break • Stressors for women and underrepresented faculty • Mentoring for interdisciplinary faculty • Scenarios

3. Who is Mentor? • In Homer’s Odyssey, Mentor was teacher and guide to Telemachus, Odysseus’ son, while Odysseus returned from Trojan war. • Mentor illustrates a male guiding another male, but Mentor had his own guide, Athena, goddess of wisdom (who took Mentor’s form and served as companion and adviser to Telemachus). • Would the relationship have been different if Athena had advised a young female or revealed her gender to her young male companion? • The issue of gender in mentoring issues continues. (See COACHE survey results--handout)

4. Research Findings • Faculty members with mentors report “more career success and socio-emotional support than faculty members without one.” (Sorcinelli and Yun, 2004) • “Mentoring constellations” are positively associated with career and job satisfaction; individuals with more than one mentor seem to have greater career benefits. (van Emmerik in Sorcinelli and Yun, 2004) • Participants in a 2-day workshop connecting junior and senior women faculty had significant gains in total number of publications, total number of publications in top-tier journals, and total number of federal grants, compared to non-participants with similar range of abilities (American Economics Association Committee on the Status of Women; Inside Higher Education, 1/04/2010)

5. Traditional Mentoring: Hierarchical Relationship with Two Types of Functions • Career Functions • Coaching • Sponsorship • Protection • Exposure and viability • Challenging assignments • Psychosocial Functions • Role modeling • Acceptance and confirmation • Counseling • Friendship (Duff, 1999)

6. Current Models: Mentoring Networks • Not a “top-down, one-to-one relationship in which an experienced faculty member guides and supports a new or early-career faculty member… mentoring is best undertaken by a number of faculty members, rather than one individual.” • “Multi-mentor model”: more realistic in “an increasingly complex and changing academic environment” • “Networking model” vs “grooming model” (Sorcinelli and Yun, 2004)

7. Types of Mentors in Potential“Mentoring Constellation” • Lead, “at-large” mentor (traditional) • Informal mentor(s) • Responsibility-related mentors (research, teaching, service) • Project-oriented mentor(s) • Group mentoring • Peer mentoring • Groups for writing support, etc. • External mentors (Moody, 2010)

8. Developing Mentoring Programs • In most departments mentoring needs to be more deliberate and intentional whether there is a formal structure or not (Bensimon, Ward and Sanders, 2000). • Department head and senior faculty should determine purpose(s) and structure, in conjunction with junior faculty and using “best practices” from literature. • Both mentors and “protegés/mentees” require preparation if not training.

9. Criteria for Good Mentoring Pairs(or Groups) • Compatibility in career goals • Commonalities in personal circumstances and interests (e.g., family status, personal interests and activities) • Productivity in common areas • New pairings (no previous relationship) • Similar time commitments (Bensimon et al)

10. Characteristics of Good Mentors • Productive in teaching, research and institutional citizenship • Familiar with department, college and campus • Positive about their positions • Politically aware • Understanding of challenges for new faculty • Supportive and willing to reach out to new faculty • Good listeners (Bensimon et al)

11. Goals for the Mentoring Relationship UC San Diego Faculty Mentoring Program Short-term goals • Familiarization with the campus and its environment • Networking—introduction to colleagues, identification of other possible mentors. • Developing awareness—help new faculty understand policies and procedures that are relevant to the new faculty member’s work. • Constructive criticism and encouragement, compliments on achievements. • Helping to sort out priorities—budgeting time, balancing research, teaching, and service. Long-term goals • Developing visibility and prominence within the profession. • Achieving career advancement.

12. Discussion • What kind of mentoring program does your department provide for new faculty? • How are mentors identified? • How do mentors and new faculty prepare for the mentoring experience? • How do mentors function beyond one-on-one interaction with new faculty member? (e.g., participation in annual review, peer review of teaching, etc.) • Ideas for making your mentoring program more effective?

13. Bare-Bones Timeline: Mentoring New Faculty • First two weeks: Review orientation info, answer questions • Midway through first semester: answer questions about research, tenure process, balance of teaching, research, service. Develop writing and research goals. • Second semester: touch base re progress with research and teaching • End of first year: develop teaching and research goals for summer and year 2 (annual review, if head) • Start of year 2: assess progress, review plans for research, conferences, manuscripts, grants • End of each subsequent year: develop plans, assess progress (Bensimon et al 2000)

14. Front Loading – Start Early Front loading brings dividends for the future. Do not wait for a problem before meeting with mentee. The mentor should initiate the meetings. Ideas for first meeting: • Get acquainted, definitions and expectations of mentoring • Importance of confidentiality • Decide on ground rules for the mentoring relationships • Schedule next few meetings – include other faculty. Meet at least monthly to develop the relationship • Encourage mentee to cultivate other mentors, get second opinions • Listen and ask questions

15. What to Include in Ground Rules • How often to meet? Open door? Time constraints? • Multiple mentors and sources of information • What do we each expect to get from/provide to this relationship? – review manuscripts? Collaborate? Moral support? • How does mentoring feed into or intersect department’s annual review, SME, and tenure/promotion processes? • How to handle disagreements • Confidentiality • Your thoughts?

16. Critical Incidents • From “Keeping Our Faculty of Color Symposium”: Faculty decide in the first 90 days if they will stay at an institution. • Review list of typical stressors for new faculty. Brainstorm ways to mitigate them • Encourage mentee to talk about both positive and negative aspects of faculty life • If mentee encounters difficulties or critical incidents • Listen. • Do not dismiss, deny, or rationalize them. • Do not try to solve them, but know the appropriate campus resources. (e.g., HR workshop on coaching, OIED harassment and discrimination reporting, OFD resources, Asst and Assoc Professors’ Communities)

17. Constructive Feedback • Work from a shared baseline – before you begin, review the mentee’s goals for the day • Frame questions in terms of your own lack of understanding. Direct questions or criticism to the work, not the mentee • Avoid asking questions with a demeaning tone • Suggest other resources and people, brainstorm about how to improve the work • Elicit discussion about the approach – ask what are the advantages and disadvantages • If the mentee isn’t doing all he/she is responsible for, point out the problem, help develop skills

18. Advancing your Mentee’s Career • Suggest conferences, grant opportunities, professional development opportunities, etc. • Collaborate on a research or teaching project • Introduce your mentee to other faculty • Provide constructive feedback on manuscripts, grant proposals, teaching • Nominate mentee for awards or for invited presentations or panels

19. Dysfunctional Behaviors – How to Undercut the Relationship • Gossip • Fail to protect confidential information • Violate the ground rules you set up • Do not proactively set meetings and contact mentee, wait for mentee to contact you. • Examples?

20. Mentoring Women and Underrepresented Minorities Effective mentors for women faculty, faculty of color, and interdisciplinary faculty need to balance advice for surviving in the current system with a commitment to changing the institution

21. Challenges for Women and Underrepresented Minorities • Overt Sexism and Racism • Unconscious Bias • “Cultural Taxation” • “Women’s Work” • Work/Life Integration

22. Strategies for Mentoring Women and Underrepresented Minorities • Advocate Cultural Change: Challenge Overt Sexism and Racism and Confront Unconscious Bias • Be a Champion: Protect Faculty from Excessive Service Responsibilities • Assist Faculty in Developing a Plan of Work that Balances Research, Teaching and Service • Act as a Role Model with Respect to Work/Life Integration

23. Challenges for Interdisciplinary Faculty • “Multiple Fields-One Body” Problem • Overwork • Possible Resentment of Departmental Colleagues • Disciplinary Bias against Interdisciplinary Work

24. Strategies for Mentoring Interdisciplinary Faculty • Advocate Interdisciplinary Assessment/Evaluation • Champion New Work and New Ideas • Assist Faculty Member in Promoting their Work, through Presentations, Informal Discussions, etc. • Guide in Developing a Plan of Work

25. Scenarios Two scenarios – choose one to discuss in small group • New faculty member was a controversial choice due to area of research • Minority faculty member was told by another faculty member in a meeting “You’re our politically correct hire. You’re qualified to teach only race-related courses. Yes?” Form several groups of three people for each scenario.

26. Scenarios In small groups discuss • What did they do well at individual or dept level? • What didn’t go so well? • What remedies can you suggest? • If you were the mentor how would you help the mentee? • Are there useful self-help strategies for the mentee? Large group discussion

27. References • Bensimon, Estela M., Ward, Kelly, and Sanders, Karla. (2000) The Department Chair’s Role in Developing New Faculty into Teachers and Scholars. Bolton MA: Anker Publishing. Chapter 10, “Creating Mentoring Relationships and Fostering Collegiality” • Duff, Carolyn S. (1999) Learning from Other Women: How to Benefit from the Knowledge, Wisdom and Experience of Female Mentors. American Management Association • Jaschik, Scott. “Proof that Mentoring Matters.” Inside Higher Ed (January 4, 2010). • Moody, JoAnn. (2010) Mentoring Early-Stage Faculty at Medical, Law and Business Schools and Colleges and Universities. San Diego: JoAnn Moody. • Sorcinelli, Mary Deane, and Jung Yun. “From Mentor to Mentoring Networks: Mentoring in the New Academy.” Change, Nov/Dec 2007, 58-61.