Faculty Mentoring Program

About the Program

A faculty professional development program was designed and implemented in the college of engineering at The Ohio State University in 2017-18 Academic Year to provide uniform mentoring among the engineering programs.

Arial view of OSU oval

The overall goal of the program is to provide support to new faculty in the key areas of institutional orientation, develop innovative research and teaching programs, and help faculty become well-oriented citizens of the university and their professional communities while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. The program has a short-term component, which includes a monthly workshop series to provide information to the new faculty within their first year about the resources available within the college and university. The long-term component, the mentoring program, starts with forming of mentoring team by new faculty member with guidance from the program director. The mentoring committee meets twice a year to discuss the short-term, mid-term and long-term goals and to provide input and different perspectives.

  • To enhance the ability of new faculty to work effectively during the tenure track period as they lay the foundation for continued success after tenure review.
  • To provide guidelines for a uniform structure of team mentoring for all new faculty yet to be individualized based on the needs of a particular faculty member.

Mentoring Literature

Bode RK. 1999. Mentoring and Collegiality. In: Menges RJ, editor. Faculty in New Jobs: A Guide to Settling in, Becoming Established, and Building Institutional Support. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass; pp. 118–44.

Boice, R. 2000. Advice for new faculty members. Nihil nimus. Boston, MA. Allyn and Bacon.

Cox, MD 1994. Reclaiming teaching excellence. Miami University's Teaching Scholars Program. To Improve the Academy, 13:79-96.

Fayne, H. and Ortquist-Ahrens, L. 2006. Learning communities for first year faculty: Transition, acculturation, and transformation. In S. Chadwick-Blossey and D. Reimondo Robertson (Eds.), To improve the academy: Vol. 24. Resources for faculty, instructional, and organizational development (pp. 277-290). Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing.

Gray, T. and Birch, A.J. 2008. Team mentoring: an alternative way to mentor new faculty. To Improve the Academy. 26(1):230-241.

Kaletunç, G. and Bucheit, R. 2018. New Faculty Professional Development Program: Lessons Learned and Moving Forward. The Chronicle of Mentoring and Coaching, Vol. 2, October 2018, Special Issue 1. pp. 478-483.

Kurfiss, J. and Boice, R. 1990. Current and desired faculty development practices among POD members. To Improve the Academy. 9:73-82.

Luna, G. and Cullen, D.L. 1995. Empowering the Faculty: Mentoring Redirected and Renewed. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 3. Washington, D.C.: The George Washington University, Graduate School of Education and Human Development.

Sandler, B.R. 1993. Women as mentors: Myths and commandments. The chronicle of Higher Education. 19(5). Paper 249.

Thurston, L. P., Navarrete, L., & Miller, T. 2009. A ten-year faculty mentoring program: Administrator, mentor, and mentee perspectives. The International Journal of Learning, 16(4), 401–415.

University of Michigan, ADVANCE Program Launch Committees

University of Pittsburgh, Center for Faculty Excellence

Mentoring Links