Mentoring for Early Career Faculty Members
Mentoring relationships are more effective and satisfying, and best built when those seeking to learn from more experienced members of their professions take initiative and actively engage in developing these relationships.
Early career faculty members are advised to tap into and develop a useful group of mentors to guide them in their academic professional development, tapping individuals both within and outside of their current departments, schools, and institutions. Mentors individually and/or collectively provide critical guidance, material and emotional support, connections, collaborations, as well as serve as thought partners, friendly and important critics, and champions.
Stanford Resources
For the most current Stanford University policies concerning "Junior Faculty Counseling and Mentoring," please consult Chapter 2, Section 8 of the Faculty Handbook, and scroll down to section 2.8.1.
Faculty Mentee Guide This self-paced guide includes information, tools, and resources for early career faculty who are seeking mentoring. It is intended to supplement existing school and department procedures and programs. While the focus of this guide is on receiving mentoring as an early career faculty member, many of the principles of mentoring can apply to your mentoring and advising of trainees.
Faculty Mentoring beyond Stanford
- Guide to Best Practices in Faculty Mentoring – Office of the Provost, Columbia University
- National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) is a nationwide consortium, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, that offers a plethora of training and opportunities to connect for mentors and mentees in the biosciences.
- National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity – Stanford faculty members may access the mentor network of alums of the NCFDD's Faculty Success Program and other resources.
- Giving and Getting Career Advice: A Guide for Junior and Senior Research Faculty – A resource from the University of Michigan.
In-depth Reading
- Survive and Thrive: A Guide for Untenured Faculty, Wendy Crone. Mogan & Claypool Publishers. 2010.
- Advice for New Faculty Members, Robert Boice. Pearson. 2000.
- Making the Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty, Second Edition (free and available online), Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Burroughs Wellcome Fund. 2006.
- Getting the Most out of Your Mentoring Relationships: A Handbook for Women in STEM, Donna J. Dean. Springer. 2009.
- The Academic Medicine Handbook: A Guide to Achievement and Fulfillment for Academic Faculty, Laura Weiss Roberts, editor. Springer. 2013.
- Tomorrow's Professor: Preparing for Academic Careers in Science and Engineering, Richard Reis. IEEE Press and Wiley. 1996 and 2012.
- At the Helm: A Laboratory Navigator. Kathy Barker. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. 2002.
- Mentoring for Academic Careers in Engineering: Proceedings of the PAESMEM/Stanford School of Engineering Workshop, 2005.