New Faculty Mentors

One way the College attempts to assist the adjustment of new faculty members is by assigning each a faculty mentor. Department chairpersons are asked by their deans to choose mentors for their new regular faculty members. As they consider choices of mentors, please keep in mind the following:

Mentors should be prepared to help the new faculty member become part of the departmental and college community and, as appropriate, local and national professional organizations.
Mentors should be good sources of information about teaching methods and resources available at the College
Mentors should assume that they will need to devote significant time to their mentees in the first year, including meeting regularly with them, and that the mentorship should extend through the tenure decision year.

Another consideration in choosing an appropriate mentor is whether the person will be in a position of evaluating the mentee. Exchange between mentor and mentee may be freer if both know the mentor will not be voting on re-appointment, tenure, and promotion. Thus, it may be preferable for a department chairperson or P&B member not to serve as mentor, although of course, in smaller departments this may be unavoidable.

Note that while a mentor is normally a departmental colleague, this need not be the case. In some cases, colleagues in other departments might be very appropriate mentors of new faculty.