Mentorship: A Path to Growth
Mentorship is a cornerstone for professional development and career advancement within the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS). The CAS 2024 Equity, Justice, & Inclusion (EJI) Climate Survey revealed that 93% of respondents reported a positive impact from mentorship, and 92% support the establishment of a structured mentorship program within CAS. This 2024-25 CAS Mentorship Program is a semi-structured mentorship program aimed at fostering both formal and informal professional relationships among faculty across disciplines and ranks.
There are multiple ways the college can support our community in navigating academia and developing professionally from being more transparent about expectations to offering training on specific subjects. Providing mentorship resources is part of this multipronged approach. While mentors bring valuable expertise and knowledge to mentorship relationships, please remember that a person’s chair is best equipped with answering questions related to promotion and achieving professional success in a particular department or unit.
Pilot Program (AY 2024-25): What’s happening this year: 2024-25
Led by the Associate Dean for Equity, Justice, and Inclusion, the College is working towards providing a robust mentorship program for faculty. (See below for staff resources)
How to Engage in Mentorship Effectively
The EJI Repository has been updated with 100 new mentorship-related resources to further support the CAS community. This comprehensive, searchable collection is designed to foster professional development, connection, and growth, offering valuable tools for building equity-minded mentorship practices. The repository serves as a key resource for advancing EJI goals and mentorship across the college. Simply start by selecting Mentorship Guidance as the category to explore the updated resources!
CAS Mentorship Peer Coaching Groups
In fall 2024, CAS launched faculty peer coaching groups. Our Peer Coaching Group Kick Off, facilitated by the Director of UW’s ADVANCE Center for Institutional Change, provided an overview of the Peer Coaching Circle (PCC) model and demonstrate how to use it. Following the meeting, participants were placed in coaching groups and provided the tools to conduct regular meetings with your PCC.
Beyond just community-building, these meetings provide a structured space for individuals to receive targeted feedback on specific challenges they face, foster accountability through the creation of personal contracts, and enable participants to reflect on common themes that can drive collective growth and innovation. This approach supports not only the creation of a supportive network but also the practical, day-to-day advancement of each participant's professional goals.
Our Mentorship Portal - Finding Your Mentor/Mentee
In its first year, the CAS Mentorship Program will launch a new mentorship portal that allows faculty to search for mentors or mentees based on specific qualities, such as professional skill sets, research interests, teaching strategies, and service expertise. The pilot focuses on fulfilling a gap specifically identified in faculty mentorship opportunities. Try it out here.
Professional Development & Community Building
CAS’s EJI office will also coordinate a series of social events and professional development opportunities related to mentorship.
The first event, the Mentorship Celebration and Pizza Party, is on Wednesday February 12th from 3:30-5:30pm in Oak Hall Denny Room. At this event for faculty, we will discuss the College’s new Mentorship program, demonstrate our mentorship portal where faculty can find mentors or mentees, meet with colleagues who are interested and/or engaged in mentorship, and mingle over pizza and refreshments. Please RSVP here.
Mentorship Resources for Staff
Staff can find mentorship resources through UW’s Professional & Organizational Development site. Resources include a mentoring toolkit, best practices around promoting staff professional and career development, and a video of a panel presentation on mentorship sponsored by UW Human Resources. The College will also work with the staff advisory council to discuss how to best support mentorship opportunities for our staff.
Value-Driven Mentorship
CAS is dedicated to fostering a community in which members can collaborate on shared interests and advance EJI within our academic environment. The CAS Mentorship Program centers on these core values:
- Mutual Respect and Learning: Building trust through valuing each other’s experiences.
- Reciprocity: Ensuring both mentors and mentees benefit from the relationship.
- Shared Interests: Aligning mentorship based on common interests for greater impact.
- Professional Development: Facilitating career advancement through skill-building.
- Networking: Expanding professional networks to foster new opportunities.
- Consistency: Regular interactions to build strong, lasting relationships.
- Sustainability: Implementing feedback mechanisms to ensure long-term success.
Our program’s values are also influenced by CAS’s guiding principles.
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