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- Information
Although the College offers guidelines pertaining to its expectations for teaching, scholarship, and service, each department has its own unique characteristics, so it is difficult to standardize the role of the mentor in this area. At the same time, however, it is these very differences, sometimes vast, sometimes no more than a nuance, that can be confusing to a faculty member not familiar with the university, and which make mentoring a valuable and necessary process.
- Advice
Aside from the more straightforward, tenure-related issues, a new faculty member might be trying to navigate around other, minor questions that s/he might prefer to ask of the mentor rather than a chair or a less-known faculty member.
For example:
- To what extent can I ask for a particular schedule next semester?
- Can I ask to teach (or not to teach) a particular class?
- I don’t feel that my class is going well. Would you drop in and give me feedback?
- Professor X is giving me a bit of a hard time. What should I do?
- I think the Chair has given me too much to do this semester and I can’t keep up, but I’m afraid it will look bad if I say something.
In the first meeting, the Mentor should establish an easy-going relationship with the Mentee, so s/he will feel comfortable asking questions that may seem ‘silly’ or of a sensitive nature. This is not to say that Mentor and Mentee are intended to become best buddies.
- Confidentiality
In order for the Mentee to feel comfortable (see #2), the Mentor must make it clear that anything the Mentee says will be kept in confidence.
- Feedback
Everyone, whether or not they are new to teaching, can benefit from a little informal feedback, as long as it’s not of the unsolicited sort. The Mentor should offer, for example, to go watch a class, with the understanding, of course, that it is strictly between Mentor and Mentee, and certainly not mandatory. Mentors might also offer to hear a practice run for a talk, or review a paper.
- Advocacy
Mentors should be willing to advocate for new faculty members on issues that may arise, such as course scheduling, class limits, and service workload.
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Contact
For additional information, please contact:
Susan Briziarelli
Associate Dean
College of Arts and Sciences
Science Building, Room 121
p - 516.877.4118
e - sbriziarelli@adelphi.edu
This page last modified on December 12, 2008.
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