Retention-Mentoring

The Office of Equal Opportunity encourages the development and use of mentoring programs Iowa State University’s various units and departments. This tool is an overview of mentoring research to assist departments and units in the design and application of their mentoring programs. 

Mentoring programs have been shown to bolster the research and teaching component aspects of faculty performance in teaching assignments and in research projects[1]. They have also been shown to help with generally improving an organizations retention by increasing communication, congeniality and support among its employees. 
 

Iowa State University currently does not have the capability to have a formal mentoring program which aligns junior and senior faculty with matching identities in every college and department. It is precisely for this reason that a formal mentoring program can help Iowa State University retain diverse faculty.

There are four ways of organizing a formal mentoring program to provide resources to incoming diverse junior faculty:  

 

  1. Departments and colleges can provide the names of senior faculty in other areas of Iowa State University to incoming junior faculty, so that they can have a matching identity mentor, as well as a mentor within their own college. This would provide a many-to-one mentoring relationship, so it would be necessary to address the unique challenges to that relationship outlined under that section of this article. One inherent problem with this kind of solution is that it could make the diversity tax more pervasive because the mentoring work is performed outside of the department. With that in mind, this kind of structure would require departments to communicate with each other to foster this kind of reciprocal benefit, in order to reduce an inherent diversity tax. 

 

  1. Second, departments and colleges can also provide incoming junior faculty with names of other junior faculty to develop a peer group mentoring relationship with matching identities to undergird a cross cultural mentoring relationship inside of their college and department. 

   

  1. Departments and colleges can also train their non-matching identity faculty on cultural competency issues, so that turbulence in the beginning of a cross-cultural mentoring relationship is eased.  

 

  1. Fourth, departments and colleges can also encourage and facilitate participation in external mentoring opportunities that are listed at the end of the article. 
Diversity Recruitment and Retention Toolkit
Click to Learn Forms of Mentoring

Mentorship Progression 

Mentoring relationships have a natural progression from creation to the final evaluation. At each stage, this guide will describe expectations of both the mentee and the mentor with the caveat that in a group setting these expectations will likely be different. 

 

Stage 1: Creation (1 month) 

During this stage, mentors and mentees should develop rapport with one another. Mentors will broadly describe their experience and resources on campus. Mentees will generally discuss their career plans and the projected barriers to their objectives. Mentees and mentors will also agree on ground rules for open and honest communication. 

 

Stage 2: Development (8 to 10 months) 

During this stage, mentors will take the broadly described needs of the mentees and provide coaching, role modeling, facilitate building relationships with faculty and events on campus that aide their development. The following steps should be followed in each mentoring session: 

 

  1. Follow up on issues discussed in the previous session. 
  1. Discuss new goals and issues. 
  1. Draw up a roadmap for ideas to be discussed in future sessions with an eye towards developing the mentee to the point of autonomy. 
  1. Promote integration of the mentee with relevant campus and community events. 
  1. Evaluating the effectiveness of their interactions and making changes if it is determined to be beneficial. 

 

Stage 3: Resolution (1 month) 

During this stage, mentees should feel more at ease with taking greater control over their career. 

 

Step 4: Reconstitution (last session) 

During this stage, mentees and mentors should draw out what their expectations are from each other after the relationship has come to term. 

 

Step 5: Evaluation (after termination) 

Mentees and mentors will be asked to complete a formal evaluation which will be sent to their units / departments and the Office of Equal Opportunity. This evaluation will ask mentees and mentors how the program can be further refined. 


 

[1] Bland, C. J., & Schmitz, C. C. (1986). Characteristics of the successful researcher and implications for faculty development. Journal of Medical Education, 61(1), 22 – 31