DePaul University Academic Affairs > Faculty Resources > Faculty Mentoring

Faculty Mentoring

​Faculty Mentoring Program

At DePaul University, all faculty at the assistant professor rank are offered mentoring through their school or college. This mentoring consists of career-advancing guidance as well as social support for the faculty member. The mentoring relationship can take different forms depending on the needs and wishes of the mentee and school/college. The forms may include traditional one-on-one mentoring, a mentoring committee, or group mentoring. The mentee and mentor are expected to meet regularly (at least 2-3 times a year) and the department or program chair is expected to check in at the end of each year to assess the success of the mentorship relationship and make changes as needed.

The following are examples of topics typically discussed during mentoring sessions:

  • Promotion and tenure processes
  • Teaching and mentoring undergraduates
  • Teaching support (CTL visit)
  • Managing large classes
  • Strategies for student engagement
  • Teaching diverse students effectively
  • Assessing your teaching
  • Developing mentoring networks
  • Maintaining work-life balance
  • Time management
  • Identifying funding opportunities
  • Building research collaborations
  • Building your research plan

Workshops

All new mentors, mentees, and department/program chairs are required to attend the appropriate workshop below:

  • Optimizing the Mentoring Relationship: A Workshop for Mentees
  • Mentoring Skills Workshops: A Workshop for Mentors
  • Establishing and Monitoring a Mentoring Relationship:  A Workshop for Department/Program Chairs

These workshops are designed to build mentoring capacity and address common mentorship challenges such as establishing shared expectations, fostering culturally inclusive mentoring, and dealing with conflicting advice. Questions about these workshops can be addressed to Valerie Johnson, Interim Associate Provost for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at valerie.c.johnson@depaul.edu.

Campus Mentoring Resources

DePaul's Office of Research Services offers workshops and trainings to promote, facilitate, and support research, scholarship, teaching, and creative activities. In addition, the Society of Vincent de Paul Professors provides the following mentoring opportunities for faculty:

1.       Annual Faculty of Color Luncheon
2.       Annual “Experiences of the Tenure and Promotion Process" panel
3.       Annual “Going Up For Full" panel
4.       Participation with the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) as panelists and mentors
5.       Informal services like tenure statement review, meetings with junior faculty

Finally, DePaul maintains an institutional membership in the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD) which allows faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows access to a host of resources designed to increase productivity , maintain work-family balance, and create broad networks of collegial support. Instructions on how to access the NCFDD site can be found here.

Additional Mentoring Resources 

Listed below are resources for mentors, mentees, and department/program chairs.

Faculty Mentoring Models

Best Practices for Effective Mentoring

Building a Mentoring Program