TENURE-TRACK MENTORING PROGRAM

Office of the Provost

Kenyon College

  1. Kenyon College provides a two-year mentoring program for new tenure-track faculty members. The new faculty should choose three mentors: a tenured person in the department who usually serves as the chair of the mentoring group, the department chair, and one person outside of the department (who may or may not be tenured). We recommend that this third person be a “near peer” mentor, someone in their second or third year in the TT and thus near the new faculty member’s career stage.
  2. The new faculty member should submit the list of names in their mentoring committee to Associate Provost García by Nov. 1 of the first year of the new faculty member’s appointment. If the new faculty member has not chosen members of the mentoring group by that date, the Associate Provost will assign them.
  3. The mentoring group is responsible for providing regular feedback to the new faculty member in all three areas of evaluation: teaching, scholarship, and citizenship. Persons on the committee should meet occasionally (at least once per semester) with the member and attend at least two classes each semester.
  4. The new faculty member should also initiate contact with mentors informally, finding opportunities to engage in discussions with them about syllabi and pedagogy, professional development and time management, dealing with difficult students, and positioning oneself for future reviews.
  5. At the end of the first academic year (ideally before the spring semester ends in May), the committee will meet with the faculty member to discuss his or her strengths, areas of difficulty, and goals and strategies for the upcoming year performance.Summaries of course evaluations from the first semester and a curriculum vita will be available to the mentoring committee.
  6. After this meeting, both mentors and the new faculty member should fill out the Mentoring Program Evaluation Form, found on the Provosts’ website.
  7. Mentoring continues in the second year, when mentors should again attend at least two classes each semester and continue to meet informally with the member on a regular basis (at least once per semester). At the end of the second year (ideally before the semester ends in May), the new faculty member will meet with the mentoring committee, which again has the benefit of seeing course evaluations and a curriculum vita.
  8. The purpose of the meeting will be to assess the member's growth and progress, and to advise the member about preparing for the pre-tenure review.
  9. After this meeting, both mentors and the new faculty member should fill out the Mentoring Program Evaluation Form, found on the Provosts’ website. The report will be due by June 1.

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