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Policy Statement

Prince Sultan University requires that a structured mentoring program be in place for all new faculty members and junior researchers to facilitate their professional development and integration into the university. This policy mandates that each college has to comply with establishing mentors for all new faculty members and junior researchers within each respective college. This policy applies to all faculty members at PSU.

Background and Justification

The mentoring programs at PSU will support the University in accomplishing its objectives for faculty members with high-quality teaching standards, variety, broad excellence, and a respectful and positive work environment in which all members of the university can succeed. PSU supports the Guidance Model (appropriate for new faculty members) and the Companions Model (appropriate for existing faculty members) for faculty members.

Scope and Purpose

The purpose of mentoring is to guide and help the new faculty members of different colleges, departments, and programs to understand the structure, resources, and culture at PSU. Chairpersons from each department have the primary responsibility for mentoring their respective faculty members, especially for their annual performance evaluations. However, each department assigns a senior faculty member to act as a mentor for new faculty members in reference to learning about PSU’s educational culture within their respective departments.

Principles of the Policy

1. Each college is required to design and implement a faculty mentoring program
2. Mentoring can be performed at two levels: College level and Department level
3. The college-level mentoring component addresses general information about the university, college, service units, processes, and all non-academic affairs.
4. Department-level mentoring addresses all academic matters, including teaching, research, career advice, support for new faculty to settle down and prepare well for their courses, academic and teaching policies, how to apply for a research grant, and requirements for promotion. Integration and collaboration with existing faculty members.
5. The mentor programs should be designed by a team of mentors supervised by chairpersons.
6. Each mentoring program should include a mission, goals and objectives, general information, activities and events, a calendar for meetings, workshop supplies, …etc.
7. Booklets, pamphlets, and websites should support mentoring programs.
8. Deans and Chairpersons are responsible for approving the mentoring programs, preparing the mentors, and overseeing the implementation of the programs
9. All mentoring programs will include regular assessment and feedback at the end of the academic year for their effectiveness.
10. Feedback from both mentees and mentors will be collected to ensure that the programs meet their objective and to identify areas for improvement.

Definitions

Mentorship: Mentoring may be defined as the method of guiding, teaching, directing, and serving as a particular model for another person. It includes the process by which a senior person guides the development of another person who may be new to the field or workplace.

Mentor: An experienced person who advises and helps somebody with less experience over a period of time.

Mentee: A person who is advised and helped by a more experienced person over a period of time, especially within a formal mentoring programme in a company, a university, etc.

All definitions were taken from the online Cambridge Dictionary.

Responsibilities and Implementation Strategies

• Assisting mentees in developing short-term and long-term career goals and professional interests and helping them to plan for achieving these goals.
• Attend the programs and workshops offered by the Teaching and Learning Center, Research Center, ITC, and other campus units.
• Perform peer teaching observations of the mentee.
• Provide information on academic and student support services on campus.
• Provide guidance regarding teaching strategies and philosophies, course design, and curriculum development.
• Discuss research funding and professional development opportunities. Getting to know PSU: provide information regarding academic policies and guidelines and the university governance structure. Provide information and guidance regarding student advising, motivation, and academic integrity, plus all matters related to students.

Procedures for Handling Policy Violation

All violations performed by the faculty member will be handled according to the faculty governing by-laws.

References

• Faculty Mentoring Guidelines – Purdue University
• University at Buffalo – Mentoring Policy
• University of Arizona – Mentoring Toolkit (PDF)
• University of California, San Francisco – Mentoring Resources
• University of Michigan – Center for Learning & Teaching