Introduction
The WSU Department of Sociology has long recognized the need to provide systematic guidance to untenured, tenure-track faculty members (UTTFMs) in the department. To fulfill that need we established a departmental mentoring policy in 1988.
Goals
The principal goal of our mentoring policy is to provide a full range of nurturing, socialization, and support—intellectual, professional, and emotional—to all UTTFMs in our department. The proximate purpose of this effort is to expedite the mentee's orientation to the culture and structure of not only the Sociology department, but also the university at large. It also provides the conditions for the professional, personal, and social growth of UTTFMs. The ultimate purpose of this support is to foster a level of professionalism—in research, teaching, service, and colleagueship—that enhances, to the extent possible, each mentee's chances for career advancement. One tangible measure of such advancement is a successful tenure decision.
Mentoring Committee
Timing
Very early in the career of each UTTFM—namely, within the first few weeks of the commencement of a tenure-track appointment—it is recommended to the new tenure-track professor that a mentoring committee be formed.
Composition
Each mentoring committee consists of three tenured faculty members, chosen by each mentee in consultation with the department chair. Subject to the condition that all committee members be tenured, any reasonable committee composition is acceptable in principle. In practice, however, the department has developed a conception—communicated to mentees—of a prototype most effective in achieving our mentoring goals. The prototype committee consists of (1) a senior faculty member with standing and with similar research interests to the mentee's; (2) a senior faculty member with research interests outside of but complementary to the mentee's; and (3) a recently tenured faculty member irrespective of research interests. The respective contributions of each member are roughly as follows: The first senior mentor, (1), typically serves as the Chair of the committee. Mentor (1) provides intellectual guidance and candid feedback for the mentee's intellectual growth, especially within the scope of the mentee's research interests. The chair, for example, assists the mentee in establishing career goals and with identifying the instrumental objectives for attaining those goals. The chair also orients the mentee toward appropriate professional accomplishments, such as effective strategies and appropriate outlets for publications, developing professional networks, successful teaching tips, and appropriate levels of effort devoted to service. The mentee is encouraged to interact regularly with the chair over these or other matters of professionalism. The second senior mentor, (2), typically provides a more generalized evaluation of the mentee's progress, viewing it in the context of general standards in the department and the discipline at large. The more junior mentor, (3), is most effective in providing the mentee with the detailed nuts and bolts of the tenure process within the Sociology Department, and WSU more generally.
Activities
The mentee is encouraged to interact frequently with all members of the mentoring committee, but especially the chair, throughout each academic year. The committee is encouraged to provide not only guidance and criticism of the mentee, but also encouragement and support. During the Spring of each academic year the mentoring committee examines the file of its mentee, carefully reading the manuscripts and publications of the mentee, and carefully evaluating all other facets of the mentee's professional development. Upon completion of this review the mentoring committee—either in a meeting between the mentoring chair and mentee or in a meeting between the mentoring committee and the mentee—discusses frankly, but diplomatically, the results of their evaluation with the mentee. This apprises the mentee of the committee's evaluation of progress before it goes before the entire faculty for review. It, therefore, provides the mentee with an opportunity to provide additional context or information for completing the evaluation.
Special Needs
The Sociology Department recognizes and is sensitive to the special needs of certain UTTFMs, especially those who are members of groups who have historically been under-represented in the field of sociology and academe more generally. The department chair attempts to address these needs, in part, when helping to shape the composition of the mentoring committee. Should other needs remain that cannot be satisfied by departmental resources—especially those due to a lack of appropriate human capital—the chair seeks to remedy this situation with resources outside the department.
Faculty
A meeting of the entire faculty is held in the spring of each year. At this meeting, with a lead from the mentoring chair, each mentoring committee reports on their evaluation of the mentee's progress toward tenure. In this activity the committee acts, to the extent appropriate to the case, as an advocacy group for the mentee. The faculty, in discussing each case, typically requests certain clarifications and typically provides other context or information that might not be available to the mentoring committee. The goal of this interactive process is to provide as complete a profile of each mentee as feasibly possible.
Third-year review
In the third year of service the UTTFM would also supply the mentoring committee and faculty with an up-to-date teaching portfolio in approved format that becomes part of the evaluation. In addition an advisory ballot is taken from the faculty.
Pre-tenure review
In the fifth year of service, as with the third-year review, the UTTFM supplies the mentoring committee and faculty with an up-to-date teaching portfolio in approved format.
Department Chair
After the spring meeting of the faculty, the chair of the mentoring committee prepares a written report to the chair of the department that summarizes the deliberations of the mentoring committee and that incorporates other relevant information introduced in the meeting of the entire faculty.
The chair of the department, in turn, prepares a written report on the mentee's progress toward tenure. The chair's report incorporates and builds upon the written mentoring committee report and the deliberations of the entire faculty. For the third-year review the chair also takes into account the advisory ballot of the faculty. The report is then presented to and discussed with the mentee. Upon the completion of this presentation and discussion the mentee signs the chair's report indicating that the report has been read and understood and that the mentee has had the opportunity to discuss the review with the chair. The mentee is also permitted to attach a statement to the report.
The original of this report is transmitted to the Dean, College of Liberal Arts, a copy is retained in the department's personnel records, and a copy is placed in the mentee's file. Accompanying the transmittal to the Dean for the Third-year review is the result of the faculty advisory vote.
Future Change
We anticipate no significant changes to our mentoring program at this time.