Faculty Mentoring Guideline

Objective

The goals of the CS Faculty Mentoring Program are (1) to help new faculty adjust to and become familiar with policies and procedures, and (2) to facilitate professional development. Mentors typically will advise in the three fundamental areas of academia: teaching, research, and service.

How It Works

The Department Chair will appoint a Mentoring Committee comprised of two to three tenured faculty, prior to the second month of the starting faculty member’s appointment. The Mentoring Committee for each individual will be chaired by a CS faculty member. One committee member may be from outside the department. The committee will formally meet with the new faculty member once per semester until the third year review has been completed, and then once per year until tenure is evaluated. The mentee may request assistance or advice form the Mentoring Committee at any time, and expect feedback in a timely manner. Mentoring should be considered separate from the annual evaluation process; thus the Department Chair is typically not part of the Mentoring Committee. One person from the Mentoring committee should be included in the Third-Year Review Committee and on the Tenure and Promotion Recommending Committee. The mentee or mentors may request, at any time, that the Department Chair change the Mentoring Committee make-up if incompatibilities arise.

The mentoring process is summarized in the following items:

Mentors:

• Are committed to the mentoring process.
• Should be both willing and able to assist the mentee with networking.
• Actively engage in communicating with the mentee outside of the formal meetings.
• Are recognized for their service; it is recognized as part of the faculty member’s annual position description, and the contribution to the mentoring process is evaluated in the annual review.
• Serve in the advisory position, thus are not responsible for the success or failure of the mentee.

Mentees:

• Actively engage in communicating with the Committee outside of the formal meetings.
• Keep mentors apprised of progress, achievements, and difficulties.
• Ask for advice, feedback, and help when needed.
• Are solely responsible for their own success or failure.

Guidelines:

The following are matters that should be discussed between the mentors and mentees.

• Balancing teaching, research and service activities.
• The criteria used for teaching evaluation; mechanisms for obtaining feedback on teaching; resources and programs are available for improving teaching.
• Recruiting quality graduate students; mechanisms for supporting graduate students; department support for new faculty; expectations in working with graduate students.
• Research funding sources; funding expectations for new faculty; a definition of research excellence; the department, college, and university methods for evaluating research.
• The promotion and tenure process.
• Participation on committees - UI-Department, College, University, Outside UI-Professional Organizations, Public Agencies, etc.; other types of professional service.