Mentoring

Goals:

1. To guide and prepare new faculty for success as teachers, research leaders, and effective managers of people
2. To create a network of early career College of Sciences faculty who can help each other solve problems and enrich their campus community

This program uses a cohort model of faculty mentoring for early career faculty. The program consists of a rolling calendar of events that new faculty join at their time of hire and participate in throughout their first two years at Georgia Tech. First and second year tenure-track faculty (pre-tenure assistant and associate professors), teaching faculty (academic professionals), and research scientists managing their own research groups within CoS are all automatically enrolled in the group. Alumni of the program who are beyond their first two years are welcome to continue to participate as they wish.

Each fall and spring semester, monthly workshops are offered on topics related to teaching, research, and leadership. Each discussion-oriented meeting lasts 90 minutes, typically utilizing colleagues as guest discussion leaders.   Format and topic suggestions from participants are used to refine topics, with successful topics recurring every two years and new topics will be introduced as the program develops. Meetings begin with an opportunity for individuals to share success as well as frustrations and conundrums, gather solution to overcome challenges in the classroom, research group, among colleagues, etc. Extra events are scheduled with the College of Engineering and College of Computing new faculty, typically once per semester.

Past workshop topics have included:​

• Planning a new course: course design, syllabus construction, learning objectives, and partnering with students in and out of the modern, interactive classroom
• Recruiting, mentoring, and leading graduate students and other researchers in your research group
• Building an independent, original, and productive research program, including expectations for a successful transition through promotion and tenure
• Teacher and learner assessment: tools for evaluating student learning and teaching effectiveness
• Dealing with student crises: helping manage emergencies and other problems students face, preventing and responding to academic misconduct, and resolving conflicts that arise in and out the classroom
• Preparing your first major research proposal, including navigating research collaborations, establishing independence from previous advisors, and designing broader impact activities
• Professional service: balancing contributions on campus, to your broader discipline, and influencing the future of your field by participating in peer review, curriculum design, and other committee-based service
• Creating a classroom environment that promotes student learning: practical tools you can implement right away, what the pedagogical literature says about how classroom atmosphere affects student performance, and what Georgia Tech expects of us as teachers
• Time management, prioritizing, and multi-tasking to launch your career in academia while striving for work-life balance that keeps you sane, happy, and the person your dog thinks you are
• Preparing early career proposals and fellowships (NSF CAREER and others): when to get started, how to straddle expectations about broad appeal and focus within your discipline, and how to avoid rookie mistakes
• What is the crisis of (ir)reproducibility in scientific research, and how can you stay clear of it
• Encouraging student productivity, guiding student career development, and resolving conflict with students in the classroom and in research
• Navigating peer and non-peer relationships with faculty colleagues and collaborators, including how to chair a meeting and handle difficult co-workers with flair
• Peer review: how get effective feedback on proposals and manuscripts; how to be strategic about accepting and soliciting invitations to join the peer review system while balancing all your other duties as an academic
• Opportunities for building relationships with federal agencies
• Research and funding opportunities with the Department of Energy

II. One-on-one Mentoring 

Successful mentoring relationships come in many forms.  Would you like to find a mentor to assist with general career guidance, finding balance between work and home obligations, navigating research or teaching, or other concerns?  

Contact Jennifer Leavey, Assistant Dean for Faculty Mentoring, to schedule a meeting to discuss your needs and explore potential mentor matches.  jennifer.leavey@cos.gatech.edu