The mentoring Program of the California Northstate University College of Medicine assists new junior faculty as well as established faculty members who have been identified as having a deficiency in teaching skills by assigning them a well-regarded senior, experienced faculty member as a mentor.
Faculty Mentoring Request Form
The Mentoring Program at CNUCOM is primarily designed to help the junior faculty member to:
a) Adjust to their new environment;
b) Meet high standards of rigor, depth and innovation in scholarship and to realize their full potential as scholars, teachers, and members of the academic community;
c) Plan their careers and assist them in attaining their academic goals.
The outline presented below summarizes the major elements which constitute the Mentoring Program at CNUCOM, related to (1) Design and Planning, and (2) Management, Operation and Evaluation. The program outline serves as a guide in assuring the program’s success in the realization of its intended goals.
A. Design and Planning
1) Defining the population that the program will serve (Mentees and Mentors):
a) Mentees:
•New Faculty (Instructors, Assistant or, as appropriate, Associate Professors)
•Currently employed Instructors, Assistant and, where necessary, Associate Professors
b) Mentors:
•Full Professors
•Associate Professors
2) Assignment/Selection of Mentor:
a) A temporary Mentor will be assigned to each new faculty member. The assignment will take into account the best possible match based on scholarly and professional interests as well as common personal characteristics
b) The Mentee may remain with the originally assigned Mentor or may change Mentor without the need to state a reason
c) A Mentee may choose more than one Mentor in order to enrich his/her exposure to different opinions and experiences (Mentees should contact the Mentoring Advisory Committee to ensure that the chosen Mentor is willing/able to work with the Mentee)
3) Determining the meeting content/parameters:
a) The Mentee is expected to contact the Mentor to set up the first meeting in the course of which the following topics should be discussed:
•Both parties should reach a clear understanding of what they expect from each other
• Frequency, duration, time and place of future meetings
•Decision as to whether the mentor will have an “open door” policy making himself/herself available at any time
•Establish how issues of confidentiality will be handled
•The Mentor/Mentee relationship should agree to a “no-fault” conclusion of the relationship if either party feels that the intended goal is not being achieved, without reciprocal blaming of one another
b) Mentees should be encouraged to formulate their career goals clearly, define any problems they perceive and bring specific problems to meetings for discussion.
c) Official contacts should take place at least once/month even if no specific problems exist.
4) Establishing a case management protocol to ensure that the program has regular contacts with Mentors and Mentees about their relationships:
a) For mentoring relationships to grow and last, the staff responsible for the Mentoring Program (“Mentoring Advisory Committee”) will need to be in touch with Mentors and Mentees on a regular basis in order to assess how well each relationship is progressing and offer guidance and advice along the way
b) Regular contacts between (selected) staff of the “Mentoring Advisory Committee” and Mentors and Mentees can help avoid conflicts, get relationships back on track, and help the program accomplish its goals
B. Management, Operation and Evaluation
1) Selection of a Mentoring Advisory Committee (Mentoring Management Team) which should include the following components:
a) Program coordinator (Chair)
b) Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Assessment
c) Administrative assistant
d) A team (4-5) of committed volunteers (established faculty)
2) “Training the trainers”
a) Planning and designing an ongoing staff-training and professional development process on mentoring that will take into consideration:
•Who will carry out the training
•How often it will take place
•Where and when will it take place
3) Responsibilities of the Mentoring Advisory Committee:
a) Establishing policies and procedures that reflect program decisions and practices that everyone will follow and which should include at least the following:
•How Mentors are screened, recruited, oriented, trained and supervised
•How Mentees and Mentors are matched
•Elaboration of a written mentoring agreement
•Whom a Mentee or Mentor should contact when problems arise
•How to handle complaints
•How to resolve problems in relationships
•How to bring relationships to closure
•How to evaluate the progress/success of the program
b) Maintaining all records of meetings, policies and procedures
c) Acting as liaisons between Mentees and possible Mentor candidates
d) Coordinating mentoring activities
e) Checking in regularly with Mentors and offering ongoing support
f) Tracking program statistics on short-term and long-term results
g) Developing a plan for the evaluation of the program (primarily through questionnaire surveys of Mentors and Mentees)
h) Documenting ongoing development of the mentoring program
i) Developing guides documenting the responsibilities of the Mentee and the Mentor