Diverse Faculty Mentoring Program
The Office of Institutional Diversity has developed a diverse faculty mentoring program to connect new (within three years) incoming faculty with experienced faculty mentors campus-wide. This program is intended to be a useful way of helping new faculty members adjust to the University of Georgia and the surrounding community. Assistance and support from a diverse faculty member from another department can be an invaluable supplement to the successful integration of a new faculty member by socializing new faculty in four essential areas:
- Adopting academic values
- Managing an academic career
- Establishing and maintaining a productive network of colleagues
- Navigating potential challenges to success that are unique to diverse faculty such as:
- cultural taxation and tokenism
- feelings of isolation
- unintended bias
The program’s success will depend on the new faculty members and their mentors both taking an active role in the acclimation process. The overarching goal is to not only promote professional success, but to also retain highly qualified faculty from historically underrepresented groups and grow diversity at UGA.
The Mentor:
- Must have a minimum of 2 years' experience at UGA
- Be from a different department than the mentee
- Have completed the interest inventory/application
- Is interested in offering his/her time to acclimate a new faculty member to the university environment
- Be accessible by keeping in contact by dropping by, calling, sending e-mail, meeting regularly (2-3 face-face meetings per semester)
- Be willing to provide informal advice/direction on aspects of teaching, research, university committee work, and community service.
- Treat all interactions and discussions with the mentee in confidence
The Mentee:
- Is a new faculty member (less than three years) at the University of Georgia
- Is interested in a shared experience
- Has completed the interest inventory/application
- Be open to sharing openly, as needed
OID will reimburse the cost of the initial lunch at the Savannah Room.
For more information, please contact the Office of Institutional Diversity at 706/583-8195.