Departmental Mentoring Program
UTSA recognizes the critical role that disciplinary mentors play in the success of faculty. In order to ensure that all faculty receive strong support in building their careers and locating resources and opportunities to develop as scholars and instructors, Faculty Success supports Departmental Mentoring.
Departmental Mentoring Guidelines and Timeline
- All UTSA Departments have a Faculty Mentoring Plan that describes how faculty will be mentored. This plan is created by faculty in departments and should be shared with faculty each fall semester. The plan should be evaluated using the Mentoring Plan Checklist and input from faculty in the department. The checklist accompanies the Department Plan provides a summary of essential elements for each plan. The department plans are reviewed and evaluated by departments and college deans each year. Evaluation methods are specified as part of each plan. Updated plans, noting any changes from previous plan, are submitted to Faculty Success annually.
- Career Development Plan (CDP) – UTSA CDP is a tool to facilitate faculty goal-setting with their mentors and department chairs and identification of necessary resources to ensure success. Tenure-Track faculty will complete their CDP annually in Digital Measures. This tool is not used as part of any faculty evaluation and is only viewable by Department Chairs and Deans for the purpose of coaching and supporting faculty in their pursuit of scholarly goals.
- Mentoring Training is encouraged for all senior faculty at UTSA in order to strengthen their mentoring skills. Based on curriculum created by the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research, housed at the University of Wisconsin, Becoming a Mentor @ UTSA is designed to explore what mentoring is and isn’t, the core competencies of becoming an effective mentor, and how to implement a mentoring program within colleges, departments and research teams.
- Key Dates Related to Departmental Mentoring
- Mid-September -Departments Assign Faculty Mentors
- September -Department Plans shared with Faculty
- October- Chairs support Mentor-Mentee Success with check-ins
- Early-December - Career Development Plans completed in DM by tenure-track faculty
- End of spring semester- Evaluation and Revision of Departmental Plans Submitted to Faculty Success
Upcoming Becoming a Mentor Training Sessions
- October 7 - November 11, 2020
Please contact Judith.Verdon@utsa.edu for questions about the Becoming a Mentor program.
Mentoring Check-ins and Consultations
- Faculty Success will monitor the implementation of departmental mentoring plans and ensure that all new early career faculty are being matched with mentors and having strong mentoring experiences.
- Faculty success will provide check-ins with mentors and mentees in new relationships to help provide guidance and assistance and to assess what is working and provide tools and ideas for how to work within mentoring relationships.
