The Office of the Vice President for Research, Scholarship and Creative Endeavors, together with the Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Vice Provost for Faculty Development, offers a one-year, scholarship-focused 1:1 mentoring program for tenured and tenure-track faculty, at any rank and from any discipline. The Provost’s Mentored Faculty Scholars program augments traditional, within-department faculty mentoring at UT by facilitating mentor-mentee pairing across departments, or even across colleges. Mentees nominated for this program possess a strong scholarly record.
Mentored Faculty Scholars participating in the program will:
- Identify short- and long-term scholarly objectives suitable for their career stage and discipline and codify these in an Individual Development Plan (IDP).
- Identify sources of external funding, support and recognition to grow their research portfolio and will take steps toward pursuing that external recognition.
- Broaden the impact of their research, scholarship,and/or creative endeavors, including receiving guidance on how to enhance one’s leadership skills.
- Receive support from OVPR Research Development to take steps toward advancing their scholarly agendas.
- Build a working relationship with a senior faculty leader who can advocate on their behalf.
- Build connections with the Office of the Vice President for Research, Scholarship and Creative Endeavors and Faculty Affairs leadership within the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost.
Tenure-track and tenured faculty at any rank who wish to receive structured mentorship to achieve the next stage of their career goals may be nominated. Mentees selected to participate in the program will receive compensation of $10,000 for their participation.
Each mentee will ultimately select their own faculty mentor and will be encouraged to select a faculty mentor outside their home department/CSU when there is a relevant match of experience/expertise. Because mentees select their own mentor, not every mentor in the pool will be matched with a mentee. A mentor will only be expected to mentor one mentee for the program.
Mentors will be recommended and selected based on how their expertise might enhance the mentees’ career goals, whether a faculty member is looking to enhance their publication portfolio, secure new sources of external funding, or lead a new research initiative. Mentors selected to participate in the program will receive compensation of $5,000 for their participation.
Through sustained, 1:1 interaction with their mentors over a one-year period, along with workshops and cohort sessions featuring mentoring experts from among UT’s faculty, each participant will develop soft skills critical to building or expanding their scholarly portfolio and increasing its impact. This includes maximizing the reach of their scholarship beyond traditional sub-disciplines; navigating the University’s culture and climate; navigating the external scholarly and publishing landscape; understanding how funds flow within UT; and knowing how to design a larger-scale initiative or scholarly endeavor that returns on its investment.
Mentors and Mentees will receive Research Development support while enrolled in the program. This includes access to the exclusive “Shut Up and Write” events each semester, where participants focus on scoping research ideas for grant proposals, as well as 1:1 consultation with an OVPR Research Development Officer to discuss possible external funding sources.
The Provost’s Mentored Faculty Scholars program is by invitation only.
The Provost’s Mentored Faculty Scholars program is by invitation only, but tools for self-assessment and professional development created for the program are available to anyone.