Mentor
Goals
Among the goals of the Interdisciplinary Mentoring Program are the following:
- Enable experienced faculty to share their knowledge and experience with new faculty and gain professional satisfaction.
- Assist new faculty to quickly adjust to the campus and address their special needs, concerns, or questions, if any.
- Help shape the careers of new colleagues and enjoy opportunities for self-renewal.
- Provide a valuable service to the university by promoting collegiality through mentoring.
- Contribute to the overall improvement in teaching, research, and service at Boise State University.
Roles and Responsibilities
Mentors can take on various roles, such as coach, friend, champion, advocate, career guide, role model, instructional resource, research partner, or confidant depending on the needs of their new faculty and the nature of their mentoring relationship.
Mentors are responsible for the following:
- Taking the initiative for contacting their mentees and staying in touch with them. Mentor matches are encouraged to meet one time per month over the first two semesters.
- Devoting time to the relationship and be available when requested.
- Assisting new faculty with their various questions, needs, or concerns.
- Providing informal advice to the new faculty member on aspects of teaching, research and service or directing the new faculty member to appropriate other individuals.
- Sharing their knowledge and experience to benefit their new faculty and following up on their progress at Boise State.
- Maintaining confidentiality of the information shared by their new faculty colleagues. Treat all interactions and discussions in confidence. There is no evaluation or assessment of the new faculty member on the part of the mentor, only supportive guidance and constructive feedback.
Benefits
- Satisfaction in assisting in the development of a colleague
- Ideas for and feedback about the mentor’s own teaching/scholarship
- A network of colleagues who have passed through the program
- Retention of excellent faculty colleagues
- Recognition of one’s own professional skills by the mentee
- Recognition from peers and administrators for service.
Previous Boise State faculty mentors noted the following benefits of participation:
- Opportunity to look at the University through new eyes
- Creation of a stronger University community
- Opportunity to connect with faculty in other disciplines and understand more about how they and their department do their work
- Intellectual stimulation
- Opportunity to reflect on their own careers
- Opportunity to give back to the University community
- Learning better strategies for making work-life choices