Dear Colleagues:

Each fall, as the new school year begins, senior faculty members like myself are reminded of the mentoring we have received over the years and how this has enriched our knowledge about how to manage our professional lives and accomplish our academic goals.  I am writing to remind you of a campus resource that can help junior faculty benefit from these experiences and learn some of these lessons more quickly: the UIC Faculty Mentoring Program.

The program began in the fall of 1997 with the idea of mentoring women junior faculty and expanded the next year to include all new tenure-track faculty. The original plan was simple:  Junior faculty request a mentor, senior faculty offer to mentor, and the Office of Faculty Affairs matches them up. The request could be for a mentor within or outside of the home department, with potential participants asked to complete a short questionnaire about their research and interests.

Last year, based on faculty feedback, we added some new components:  On the suggestion that mentoring is needed at various stages of a faculty member's career, we have extended the offer of mentor match-up to mid-career faculty as well, so if you are an Associate Professor who could use some mentoring, please sign up.

We also inaugurated two series of Brown Bag Discussion Groups —one for Mid-Career and one for junior faculty.  Once again this year, beginning in October, senior faculty will lead lunchtime discussions that will give junior and mid-career colleagues a chance to talk informally about some of their experiences and to network with others who are navigating the tenure track and the promotion process.

The goal of both the UIC Mentoring Program and our Brown Bag series is to help faculty learn how to get things done within the university and how to chart a productive research path--information that our discussions with them indicate they value highly. We believe that mentoring will help UIC retain more of the faculty it hires and improve morale and performance generally.

The program is not meant to replace the need for departments to provide assistance and guidance to their probationary faculty members. Instead, it is meant to be a campus-wide supplement to the efforts of individual departments and colleges.  Whether you are looking for a mentor or an opportunity to mentor, please consider taking part in the UIC Mentoring Program. To sign up, click on one of the links below. Watch your email for more details about the Brown Bag series.

• New tenure-track faculty seeking a mentor
• Mid-career faculty seeking a mentor
• Tenured faculty willing to be a mentor

Follow this link for more details about the Brown Bag series.