Junior Faculty Mentoring

All College of Arts & Science departments and programs should adopt a plan for mentoring their junior faculty to prepare them for success. The mentoring plan should meet the following baseline commitments:

• An initial meeting of the chair/director and new junior faculty member, making them aware of the mentoring program and the resources available to acquaint themselves with the promotion/tenure processes.
• A one- or two-member mentoring committee, typically tenured member(s) of the department (full or associate), formed during the faculty member’s first semester at Vanderbilt; serving on such a committee would be recognized as part of one’s departmental committee service.
• One formal meeting of the junior faculty member and mentor(s) each semester during the faculty member’s first year and an annual meeting thereafter.
• Informal conversations and meetings, to occur regularly at the mutual convenience of the committee and the faculty member (lunch, coffee, hallway chats, etc.).
• An optional in-class visit by mentor(s) or other tenured faculty member(s) early in the faculty member’s appointment, if desired by the mentee. Such visits would be intended to generate friendly feedback that can improve teaching and would be separate from any teaching assessments conducted in connection with promotion decisions.
• An annual meeting of the faculty member and the chair/director.