1. A preliminary reportonAcademic Senate/Provost Retreat February 11-12, 2011 Promoting The Culture of Mentoring at USC Sandeep Gupta on behalf of the Executive Board of the Academic Senate
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3. Background Over 75 attendees The Provost and many from her office Academic Senate, entire EB and many members Several schools administrators Several from CET, CER, ALD, and this forum
4. Background Four panels, Faculty Mentoring Undergraduates Faculty Mentoring Graduate Students & Postdocs Faculty Mentoring Faculty (Teaching & Career Development) Faculty Mentoring Faculty (Scholarship) Format: Presentations -> Breakouts -> Reports from breakouts
6. Undergraduate students Very wide range of needs Academic and career development Some overwhelmed; others insufficiently challenged Intrinsic passion vs. external factors determine program choice Mismatch between passion and capabilities Personal: Psychological, financial, … Pre-professional students face special challenges Large numbers of students concentrated in a few programs Typically enrolled in programs that are not in their target schools
7. Undergraduate students In most schools Student services staff is strong and builds relationships with each student Mentoring much more than academic advising Recognize strengths and weaknesses and help them succeed Increase availability of faculty mentors To improve academic guidance and/or letters of recommendations To increase opportunities for involvement in research, scholarly, or creative projects Also peer-mentoring programs
8. Graduate and post-doctoral scholars Train doctoral students for a wide range of careers: professional, teaching, research, … Provide opportunities to gain teaching experience Provide transferrable skills: Problem solving, writing, quantitative and computing skills Opportunities to network with professionals Partnership between career center and schools Alumni as professional mentors
9. Junior faculty Objective: Career development Especially research/scholarship/creative Learning to translate passions into academic idiom Learning to mentor graduate students Learning to excel in teaching By observing great teachers By being observed and receiving constructive feedback Modes: Senior to junior; peer-groups
10. Mid-career faculty Objectives Changing research focus Beginning the transition from innovator to leader Maintaining passion; updating research topic/areas or style Greater emphasis on service (after being protected from excessive service in junior ranks)
11. Senior faculty Objectives Leadership development Research, service, and administration USC and global Updating teaching: Curriculum and methods Junior mentors for senior faculty?
12. Basic questions and challenges Definition and purpose of mentoring? Advocate, coach, well wisher, …? Focus on mentee or USC? Will asking for help considered a sign of weakness? Infringement of academic freedom? How intrusive?
13. Structural Information Unawareness of practices, programs, and resources Do all senior faculty know the prevailing standards (e.g., at UCAPT)? Matching mentors and mentees Assignment, changes, self-selection Single mentor or multiple When: Offer letter, when they arrive at USC, … Separation between mentor and mentee: authorship, collaboration, … Changes with a mentee’s progression
14. Structural Training programs/seminars Best practices in teaching Changing teaching Changing students Exploit emerging techniques and technology Changing research Practices in fields Funding priorities Train mentors: University rules and practices, effective mentoring approaches, inter-personal skills
15. Structural Recognizing and rewarding mentoring Course release Financial incentive AFR Personal and professional satisfaction Improve opportunities for casual conversations leading to mentoring, collaborations, … Spaces Culture
16. Structural Problems of scale: Difficult to assign individual faculty mentors to UG and masters students individual senior researcher mentors to junior faculty Develop multi-layered approaches Programs for general issues, individual mentoring for specific ones
17. Undergraduate students Develop a multi-layered program Augment existing resources with a pool of faculty mentors Identify particular issues at points of one-on-one interactions Faculty and TAs who have one-on-one interactions Student services staff When appropriate, bring in a faculty mentor
20. Culture and policies Emphasize and reward mentoring Appreciation and awards Explicit parts of annual reviews and UCAPT Resources: Information exchange and experts Promote interactions: Culture, spaces, …
21. Programs Mentoring the complete undergraduate: A multi-layered mentoring program that Involves staff, front-line faculty and TAs, faculty mentors, and professionals from the field, especially alumni Spans academic advising, program placement optimization, involvement in projects and internships, networking and career advancement Mentoring the complete graduate student
22. Programs Training faculty mentors General plus field-specific For various career tracks and for various stages of career Assign explicit responsibility for effective mentoring of faculty in all tracks Mentoring programs that combine General with specifically tailored for field and career track/stage Group and individual Formal as well as individual
