New Faculty Mentoring
New Faculty Mentoring supports The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley's (UTRGV) mission of transforming the Rio Grande Valley, the Americas, and the world by familiarizing new faculty with university expectations, practices, and resources; introducing new faculty to cultural aspects of the Rio Grande Valley; fostering a sense of unity within the distributed university; and maximizing satisfaction, productivity, and retention. The program is designed to support and supplement the various departmental or college mentoring programs which currently exist.
Overall Objectives of Mentoring
- To foster academic and professional growth
- To share knowledge about department/school and institution standards and practices, as well as discipline-specific academic and career guidance
- To offer feedback and ideas to enhance academic performance, disciplinary leadership, career development, and student success
Outline of Mentoring Practice
- New faculty members will be paired with a more senior faculty member
- The two faculty are preferably from the same department/school but may be from other areas depending on the goals of the mentee
- Mentor-mentee pairing will happen as soon as possible
- The mentoring program will work with the existing orientation and onboarding programs
- Mentees and mentors will be invited to training opportunities throughout the year
- Mentors will receive recommended timely topics to discuss with the mentees
- The structured relationship will last at least two semesters. After the two semesters the mentor and mentee can decide to continue, change, or terminate the relationship
- Mentors and mentees may meet as a group each term