FACULTY MENTOR PROGRAM

The purpose of the DeSales University Faculty Mentor Program is to assist junior faculty in their professional development. Research has demonstrated that mentoring is a key component to junior faculty’s success and overall faculty retention rates. Scholars develop more successfully where expectations for performance are explicit and where knowledgeable peers guide career development.

Mentoring encompasses many different kinds of activity. It may include modeling best practices, offering information, advice, support, encouragement, honest feedback, problem solving, referrals, and networking. What each individual needs varies with the person and his or her circumstances.

While Division Heads have the primary responsibility for mentoring junior faculty, the senior faculty members of DeSales University are also a significant resource. By establishing relationships between senior faculty and junior faculty throughout DeSales University, collegiality is fostered; and the entire faculty may guide junior faculty more successfully.

However, junior faculty must recognize that no amount of guidance from colleagues can guarantee a particular outcome, and that ultimately the individual junior faculty member is responsible for compiling a record of scholarship, teaching, and service that merits promotion, tenure, or a long-term contract. Following a Faculty Mentor's advice should not be construed by the faculty mentee as any assurance of contract renewal, promotion, tenure, extended contract, one-year renewable contract, or sabbatical leave. The Faculty Mentor Program is a resource to assist junior faculty as they work toward those goals.

1. PROCEDURE: a. By September 1st of each year, the Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs will inform the Rank and Tenure Committee how many Faculty Mentors may be appointed for the following academic year. Faculty Mentors will receive a one-course reduction in their teaching load for each semester of the following academic year. b. The Rank and Tenure Committee will then request that a faculty member who would like to be appointed as a Faculty Mentor for the following academic year submit a letter of application by October 1st to be considered for appointment. c. Letters of application should address the candidate’s experience in relation to the qualifications for the appointment. d. The application must be accompanied by a letter of endorsement from the Division Head. The letter should address the candidate’s experience in relation to the qualifications for this appointment and must affirm the availability of an appropriate adjunct faculty member to ensure that our students’ academic experience is not diminished by the absence of the full-time faculty member from one course each semester of the following academic year. e. By November 1st the Rank and Tenure Committee shall report its recommendation(s) to the Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs. f. The Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs may choose to accept or reject the Rank and Tenure Committee’s recommendation(s). Notification of the decision will be made by the Provost to the faculty member(s) and the head(s) of those faculty member’s division head by December 1st.

2. QUALIFICATIONS: a. Faculty members appointed as Faculty Mentors must possess the following qualifications: i. Hold a full-time appointment as Associate Professor or Professor. ii. Eight years of full-time teaching experience in higher education. iii. Teaching ability that is consistently excellent. iv. Continued professional development in faculty member’s area of expertise. v. Consistent service to the University through DeSales University committees. vi. Knowledgeable about best practices in faculty development. b. The Rank and Tenure committee should favor candidates with the following qualifications: i. Previous membership on the Rank and Tenure Committee or the Educational Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees. ii. Tenure. iii. If more than one Faculty Mentor is appointed, two or more divisions should be represented. c. Faculty members may not serve on the Rank and Tenure Committee and as a Faculty Mentor in the same year. 3. RESPONSIBILITIES: a. Participation in new faculty orientation at the beginning of the academic year. b. Ongoing consultation with junior faculty members concerning their development as academic professionals. This will ordinarily include classroom observation and scheduled meetings. c. Submission by April 15th of an annual report of the Faculty Mentor’s activities over the year to the Rank and Tenure Committee. The report should include the number of faculty members who have been assisted and the type and duration of such assistance. d. Protection of the confidentiality of each faculty member. Information may not be shared with any other person without the written approval of the faculty mentee concerned. 4. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: a. Due to the nature of the mentor-mentee relationship, it is essential that any conflict of interest be reported as soon as either the mentor or the mentee becomes aware that such a conflict may exist. In such instances, the party who becomes aware of such a conflict should immediately report it in writing to the Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs. b. Since this is a relationship in which the Faculty Mentor should assist junior faculty members in their professional development by offering guidance, Faculty Mentors may not evaluate junior faculty who are their mentees for annual review, contract renewal, promotion, tenure, extended contracts, or sabbatical leave. c. This does not preclude the Faculty Mentor from writing a letter of recommendation, so long as a conflict of interest does not exist. d. Faculty Mentors who hold administrative appointments may not serve as mentors to faculty who must report to them. e. Faculty Mentors who serve on the Rank and Tenure Committee or on the Educational Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees may not participate in the discussion of, or vote on, applications from mentees whom they have guided.

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