I’m excited to wrap up the first year of our Department’s formalized mentoring programs and prepare for a new academic year with more outstanding new faculty hires. In the 15-16 year, the Department successfully matched 30 mentees with a mentor who provided monthly guidance and assistance with career development. The Department also hosted a Faculty Mentoring Recognition luncheon in the Truhlsen Events Center on Friday, August 26th. Faculty members from the Department and even throughout the institution were in attendance. We were happy to honor those who participated in the program, and we are especially grateful to the mentors for their active support of their newest colleagues. See the article from the UNMC Today here.
The Faculty Development Task Force continues to support each Division in their efforts to build cohesive mentoring programming to support the needs of our faculty. We are happy to welcome another large group of new faculty hires for the 16-17 academic year, and we are underway with matching these new faculty with appropriate mentors. If you have not yet mentored a new faculty member, please consider doing so – mentoring is a deeply satisfying academic undertaking and brings rich rewards for both members of the mentoring partnership. Don’t forget that mentoring is explicitly addressed as a teaching activity in our P/T guidelines – document your efforts.
Watch for new mentoring programs to roll out near the end of 2016 – the Task Force has been working on a team-based mentoring initiative and I look forward to sharing more details soon. My sincere thanks to all those who worked so hard in our mentoring programs last year – all mentees, mentors, our Division and Department leadership, and our administrative staff. The first year of our efforts was a rewarding one and I look forward to many more!