Binghamton University hires exceptional faculty and their success is critical to the
University’s aspiration to become the premier public university of the 21st century.
Tenure-track faculty are responsible for achieving strong records in research and
teaching, as well as reasonable service, by the time the tenure evaluation process
begins at the beginning of their sixth year. The burden of proof is these faculty
to demonstrate that they have met expectations for tenure and promotion.
Senior faculty can help their tenure-track colleagues achieve success. To do so, all
schools and departments will develop mentoring programs for tenure-track faculty.
While approaches will vary across departments and schools, all units are expected
to provide mentoring to tenure-track faculty. The success of any mentoring program
depends on the efforts of principal stakeholders: deans, department chairs, faculty
colleagues and tenure-track faculty themselves.
Roles and Responsibilities
- Role of the Dean
Deans provide academic leadership, including program development and assessment, faculty
hiring and evaluation, and faculty mentoring. In non-departmentalized schools (Decker
College of Nursing and Health Sciences, School of Management and in the Libraries),
deans work directly with faculty to develop mentoring programs. In departmentalized
schools (College of Community and Public Affairs, Harpur College of Arts and Sciences,
School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering
and Applied Science), deans work with department chairs to assure that appropriate
mentoring programs are developed. Calling on faculty from outside the department or
school to mentor tenure-track faculty may be appropriate in any unit; in small units
it may be essential.
- Role of Department Chair
In departmentalized schools, department chairs play a critical role in mentoring new
faculty. An important source of information for new faculty members, they should meet
with new faculty to share information on department operations, culture, priorities
and initiatives; the promotion and tenure process; and expectations for teaching,
research and service; and should periodically to provide performance feedback.
The tenure review process commences at the beginning of year six. New tenure-track
faculty have five years — not six — to establish a strong teaching and research record
that will merit tenure and promotion. Chairs should encourage new faculty members
to develop a plan for establishing a successful research program that takes into account
the time necessary for revision and re-submission of manuscripts and grant proposals.
Chairs should work with colleagues in their departments to develop effective mentoring
arrangements and to appropriately pair mentors and mentees.
- Role of the Mentor
Tenure-track faculty members are responsible for understanding expectations for tenure
and promotion and for meeting them. Mentors can provide support to help them be successful.
Mentors provide constructive feedback, but their role is not to evaluate performance
or pass judgment. Mentors are a resource to new faculty in their quest to establish
record of excellence in teaching and research, become integrated into the department
and campus, and to feel at home at Binghamton University. Mentors should meet periodically
with their mentees, initially, to get to know their mentees, establish a relationship
of trust and open communication, and to answer any questions the mentee has. Later,
meetings should address mentees’ progress, challenges and successes in advancing their
research agendas and becoming effective teachers, in creating a good work-life balance.
Successful mentors are:
- Accessible
- Supportive
- Empathic
- Candid
- Constructive
- Willing to help mentees expand their networks in the department and beyond
- Knowledgeable about what professional success requires
- Knowledgeable about campus resources or willing to find out about them
- Role of the Mentee
As professionals, new faculty members have the responsibility to demonstrate success
in research and teaching. To assure that they make the best use of mentors, they should
keep their mentors informed about any concerns they have about teaching, research
or service. They should also use meetings with their mentor to pose pertinent questions
about expectations and procedures. New faculty members should be as open as possible
with their mentors about problems they are encountering. The mentee should not view
the mentor as a sole source of guidance or information about career-related issues.
Changing mentors
In some cases, a mentor will experience changing responsibilities and commitments
that make it impossible to devote sufficient time to his or her mentee. In some cases,
mentors and mentees will not be compatible. Any mentor or mentee should be free to
send a request to his or her chair or (in non-departmentalized schools) dean to dissolve
the mentoring relationship and identify another mentor for the new faculty member.
In such cases, neither mentors nor mentees should feel that they have failed. Mentoring
relationships require time and rely on personal compatibility and will not always
be successful. When they are not, it’s best to make a change, and neither party is
to blame.
