Mentor's Role Description and Purpose: During the past two decades, public schools (K-12) have begun to implement a system of mentoring aimed at to make eas ing the initial transition easier for new teachers into the classroom , and thereby improving mor e productiv ity e for the school system. Unfortunately, higher education education has has been less concerned focused on such with formal mentoring. After a brief orientation and perhaps a one-day teaching workshop (usually optional), new faculty are often “on their own”. Many, therefore, begin to teach with minimal instruction on how one does that and so are compelled to learn their craft by trial and error. Junior faculty members are at the beginning of who seek out more experienced colleagues as mentors can benefit from their mentor's advice , while more senior colleagues c an benefit from the fresh perspectives of newer faculty. I n such a mentor-mentee relationship, both parties work together to a long process of developing skills develop as excellent a teacher s . , and they need help in this process. The definition of mentor is broad. Mentors (typically senior professors) may offer counsel, provide information, interpret institutional and/or departmental policies and practice, serve as role models, and act as advisers, guides, or advocates in a variety of formalized and less formal contexts to mentees (typically new hires or junior faculty). The mentor may provide any or all of the following: •  Diminish the fear that comes from having to go it alone , especially if the mentee and the mentor co-teach a course or teach different sections of the same course. This provides the opportunity of working together to plan the course syllabus, assignment(s), lectures, and tests and examinations. •  Provide support for developing course content. Bullard and Felder advise mentees getting ready to teach a new course to ask an experienced colleague if they can borrow his or her materials for the course and modify them. Eventually the mentee will have materials of his/her own, but that first preparation can be extremely time-consuming; anything that can be done to ease the initial endeavor is worthwhile. •  Interpreting departmental practices and policies. As simple as it seems, the novice may not think about things that are a matter of course for the experienced, e.g. how to deal with late or missing assignments, attendance policies, class withdrawal procedures, etc. Mentors can also offer suggestions about textbooks, how to get examination copies, how to work with the library, etc. •  Provide demonstrations of good teaching practices . Mentors should be willing to invite their mentees to observe as they teach or suggest other faculty to provide the mentee with the opportunity of observing a variety of teaching styles. •  Provide timely and constructive feedback on the mentee's performance. •  Encourage the mentee to be self-reliant. The mentor should not encourage the mentee to try to teach to someone else's prescription, but rather should act as a sounding board for new ideas and as a ready source of help with uncertainties and problems. •  Be a colleague . Mentors may have internalized their knowledge to the extent that it may be difficult for them to put themselves in the role of the mentee, having forgotten how much there is to learn. On the other hand, the mentee may be overwhelmed by how much is to be learned or too inexperienced to know what questions to ask. This is an opportunity to develop the role of “mentor as colleague”, where both mentor and mentee learn from each other by periodically sitting in on each other's lectures, exchanging observations, providing constructive criticism, and/or troubleshooting problems together. Further, the mentee may be able to provide the mentor new ideas from the perspective of someone doing everything for the first time. Establishing a mentor-mentee relationship •  Where does one find a mentor? A mentor may be a colleague within, or outside of, the mentee's department and/or discipline. Ideally, the mentor and mentee share at least some common background, especially if the mentee is looking for help on course content, for which someone entirely outside the discipline may not be able to offer much guidance. Other resources that may offer helpful advice when looking for a mentor are the Graduate Student Professional Development Office and the Academic Staff Mentoring Program. Some personality characteristics lend themselves better to mentorship than others. A mentor should: •  Be a professional role model. •  Have the mentee's best interests in mind. Those who are mentored by colleagues put themselves in an unequal and vulnerable position in relation to persons who, some time in the future, may be making decisions about their tenure and promotion. Thus, the best mentors are likely to be those who volunteer to participate in the activity. •  Be a good communicator . Interpersonal skills such as active listening, questioning, problem-solving and decision-making are critical elements. Mentors must be open-minded and approachable in order to encourage their mentees to seek help. Being a good communicator enables the mentor to know when to listen and when to offer advice, when to assist and when to expect mentees to take the initiative. •  Be a diplomat. Mentees are naturally going to make mistakes. It becomes the job of the mentor to help them correct their errors and develop reflective/anticipatory thinking skills, by providing constructive feedback in a helpful and non-threatening manner. •  Be non-competitive. Those who are self-reliant and non-competitive are more likely than others to have the skills needed for a wholesome mentoring relationship. Mentees may be younger, have higher energy levels, and produce more innovative plans than their mentors. Mentors must be secure within themselves not to feel threatened by fresh talent and potential. One person may not have all of these characteristics and so it may be to the mentee's benefit to have more than one mentor. Either way, the mentee must be proactive – it is up to the mentee to find and recruit one or more mentors who can help him/her to achieve his/her goals. The first meeting Once a mentee has found a mentor, the next step is to set up a meeting. Topics of discussion may include: •  Setting realistic goals. Why is the mentee looking for a mentor? For assistance with curriculum development? For advice on departmental and institutional culture and policies as they relate to teaching? For feedback resulting from classroom visits? Together develop a work plan that includes both short-term and long-term goals as well as a timeframe for reaching those goals. •  Time commitment. The goals will determine the frequency and length of meetings. Decide how often face-to-face meetings will occur, being sure that the amount of time is sufficient in order to succeed. The Academic Staff Mentoring Program recommends making a minimum time commitment of two hours per month. •  Clarifying roles and responsibilities . Problems in mentorship most often come about because of misunderstandings about the expectations the parties have of one another. Although mentees do not need to set up a formal contract, some people may find it helpful to specify mutual agreements about their respective roles and responsibilities. •  Feedback and communication. Clarify how often the mentor will give the mentee feedback about general work and progress. Discuss whether email is OK for certain issues or questions that might arise between meetings. Subsequent meetings •  The mentee should have realistic expectations . Mentors are more likely to respond to requests for specific types of assistance that they know they can provide. The mentee should analyze what is needed from a mentor and explicitly ask for those things. •  Be efficient . Meetings may be most productive when the mentee accepts the responsibility for “running” a meeting. The mentee's role is to raise the issues and questions while the mentor's role is to respond. For each meeting, the mentee should be prepared with an agenda of topics, prioritized so that the most important questions are asked first. At the conclusion of the meeting, summarize any agreements that have been reached. The mentee can restate what he/she will be doing and what the mentor committed themselves to doing for them. •  Respect boundaries . Although friendship is not a necessary component for mentorship, friendships between mentors and mentees can and do develop. Such relationships can have lifetime benefits for both parties, but a hierarchical arrangement still exists and problems may arise if boundaries are crossed. Duration of the mentoring relationship Some mentoring relationships may last one semester or less, and others may last for years. Some may begin in a formal and structured manner and evolve to informal and occasional “check ups”. The expected duration of the relationship will be influenced by the goals of the mentee and the individual personalities. “With any luck, you're a mentor and a mentee for the rest of your life” References •  Bullard LG, Felder RM. Mentoring: a personal perspective. College Teaching. 51(2). Spring 2003. p. 66-69 •  Hanes RC, Mitchell KF. Teacher career development in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Educational Leadership. November 1985. p. 11-13 •  LeMaistre C. Mentoring neophyte teachers: lessons learned from experience. Reflections on teaching and learning: 30 years at McGill. April 2000. p. 83-87 •  Simmons BJ. Mentoring: the route to successful college teaching. The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin 64(4). Summer 1998, p. 45-50 •  Tasch J, Beazley J. Characteristics and challenges in academic mentoring. Graduate Quarterly. Fall 2000, p. 6-11 •  University of Michigan, The Rackham School of Graduate Studies. How to get the mentoring you want: A guide for graduate students at a diverse university. 2002.