Mentoring of Faculty Policy

Policy Details

Effective Date:

January 17, 2019

Supersedes:

COM Administrative Policies Initially Adopted February 28, 2007; amended June 1, 2009; September 30, 2010; January 19, 2011; June 12, 2012; May 10, 2013; July 10, 2014; Mentoring of Faculty Policy Amended January 17, 2019.

Responsible Authority:

Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs

Policy Statement

Department of Biomedical Science

The Department of Biomedical Science (BMS) offers a mentoring program for faculty which pairs junior faculty with senior faculty. Additionally, the BMS Faculty Advisory Program is designed to provide a resource to support or enhance faculty performance. An Advisory Committee may be appointed for any tenured, or non-tenure track, Associate/Full Professor seeking advice on growth or development topics identified in the faculty’s Individual Development Plan (IDP). Additionally, the BMS Mentoring Program can support faculty in achieving specific research skills identified as needing support. The program involves a structured mentorship program for junior faculty members with a focus on critical faculty development areas that are identified in the mentee's Individual Development Plan (IDP). Specific mentoring activities related to research include helping select research projects; helping select potential granting agencies; advising on choice of outlets for manuscripts; and reviewing manuscripts prior to submission. Faculty are encouraged to discuss the BMS mentoring program with the department chair or the department Director of Faculty Development.

Clinical Departments

The Clinical Departments offer a mentoring program for junior and mid-level faculty members with a focus on scholarship, career development, leadership/program development, and project development. The program identifies pairs of mentors and mentees to work together for a minimum of 18 months after hiring, after which point the involved individuals may opt to continue the relationship or not. Any faculty member with a 0.5 FTE appointment or greater, at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor are eligible to participate as mentees, while any faculty at a higher rank than the mentee can serve as a mentor, with the exception of the department chair. Mentoring responsibilities and progress of activities with an assigned mentor will be documented in the Assignment of Responsibilities and evaluated annually. Faculty are encouraged to discuss the mentoring program with their department chair.

Department of Surgery

The Department of Surgery Chair provides individual mentoring with a focus on scholarship skills and research to department faculty. Specific topics addressed include Quality Improvement-Principle Investigator Project Development and Clinical Learning Environment Review: CLER – Patient (resident) safety, and quality improvement the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) way.

College

The Office of Faculty Affairs sponsors a monthly Medical Education Scholarship Workgroup (MESW) that is facilitated by an experienced Educational Researcher. Each month, different topics related to research, i.e., qualitative methods, data collection, analysis, etc., are presented, along with readings, and provide a forum for junior mid-level and senior-level researchers to discuss projects in all stages of development in an open, supportive, and nurturing environment to receive feedback and guidance through the research process. The College also provides faculty with readily identified and available mentors that faculty can contact for 1:1 consultation to enhance faculty research and scholarship. A variety of faculty including the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Department Chairs, the Assistant Dean for Medical Education, the Director of Program Evaluationpresenting education-related research or scholarly activities, including through use of the IRB-approved Data Repository for Medical Education Research (DRMER).