Mentoring Program For New Faculty

Being a new faculty member is both exciting and stressful! Research indicates that new faculty arrive on campuses with enthusiasm and optimism about opportunities for growth in their careers. Over time, however, work-related stress often increases and work-related satisfaction often decreases. New faculty satisfaction and success have both been shown to be enhanced by positive and supportive social and intellectual relationships with colleagues, support for both research and teaching, and clear and constructive feedback on their work.

In order to help provide new faculty with such support, the Morgan Center is pleased to offer a mentoring program for new faculty. All first and second year tenure-track, adjunct, and visiting faculty are eligible to participate. Participation on the part of both mentors and mentees is completely voluntary. Identities of mentees are known only to department heads, their own mentor, other mentees, and the Morgan Center staff.

The program is set up as follows:

New faculty are asked to complete a simple informational form if they wish to participate in the mentoring program. New faculty may request mentors to assist with classroom teaching, project advising, scholarship, time management and priority setting, and/or other areas as needed. In some cases and upon request, more than one mentor may be assigned. The Morgan Center will attempt to recruit and assign an appropriate mentor(s), based on the preferences expressed by the mentee, and on the recommendation of the department head. The formal mentoring relationship is anticipated to last for the first year of the new faculty member's appointment, but may be extended or terminated at the request of any member of the team.

Once underway, mentors and mentees will be asked to write a statement of a paragraph to a page which sets out the objective(s) of the mentoring relationship (tailored to the needs of the mentee) and how they plan to achieve them. Possible strategies could include (but are not limited to) regular meetings on selected topics, classroom visits, review of materials written by the mentee (teaching or research related), regular informal conversations, etc.

It is recommended that each mentor-mentee pair schedule regular meetings, which have ranged from once per week to biweekly to several times per term. The Morgan Center will fund one lunch per term at a local restaurant for each mentor-mentee team. The Director of the Morgan Center is available to meet with individual teams upon request, and will do so at least once at the beginning of each mentoring relationship. 

WPI's mentoring program also has a strong "cohort" component, with monthly gatherings of new and early career faculty focused on particular themes or for open discussion. All new faculty are invited to attend, regardless of whether they participate in the one-on-one component of the mentoring program. 

Following are some comments from recent participants:

• The program really helped with understanding WPI's institutional and teaching culture. I also found it helpful in getting to understand my department and becoming familiar with tenure and promotion criteria.
• My mentor was the most helpful resource for me during my first year. I would highly recommend the program to new faculty members!

For further information, please contact Chrys Demetry at morgan-center@wpi.edu or phone 508-831-5195.