Faculty Mentoring
The chemical engineering department at Penn State provides a supportive environment for new junior faculty members. We make it a priority to provide sufficient start-up funds, lab space, student support, and mentoring so that new faculty members can be successful. Regarding mentoring, new junior faculty members will be matched with a more senior colleague, who will serve as a formal mentor. In addition, the department head is also engaged in mentoring new assistant professors, as are other faculty members, through a process that is more organic than prescribed.
Formal Faculty Mentor
- General resource for the new faculty member.
- Meets regularly with protégé to ask and answer questions about getting started, recruiting students, building a lab, interacting with students in the classroom, integrating teaching and research, navigating Penn State systems, etc.
- Advocates for new faculty member with administration as needed.
- Helps new faculty member make connections within Penn State and the profession.
- Provides feedback on proposals, manuscript drafts, etc., as desired.
Mentoring by Department Head
- Meets monthly with the assistant professors as a group, typically over lunch. Discusses teaching, networking, research funding, working with students, etc.
- Provides funds for new faculty members to attend teaching workshops and other professional development opportunities.
- Pairs the new faculty member with an experienced teacher for team teaching during their first year.
- Regular individual meetings can be are arranged as desired to discuss research ideas, where to publish, potential research sponsors, etc.
- Reviews drafts of proposals and provides feedback.
- Annual performance reviews.
- Biannual reviews as part of the P&T process.
Mentoring by Other Faculty
- Direct mentoring from good teachers via team teaching assignments.
- Discussions with previous instructors of their assigned courses provides mentoring on teaching approaches and course structure.
- Peer evaluation of teaching each semester as part of P&T process.
- Proposal and manuscript review by faculty members in their research area as requested.
- Discussions about research, networking, and potential collaborations with faculty members in their research area.
