New UP professors are matched with experienced professors in mentoring program
By Rosemary Peters
Finding classrooms, juggling schedules and getting involved in classes. Sounds like the plight of every freshman, right? Wrong.
Freshmen are not the only ones finding themselves in a new environment with new people. Twenty-two new professors are as well.
"It's a new place, new people and a new position," Mathematics professor Valerie Peterson said. "It can be overwhelming."
To help welcome the new professors to campus and to ease their transition into the UP community, UP has instituted a program in which experienced faculty members mentor incoming faculty.
This program tries to match new professors with a professor in their own department.
Peterson's mentor is Aaron Wooten, a veteran of the math department.
"From the beginning it was clear that he has given a lot of thought to what a mentor should do and he cares about my well-being and success," Peterson said.
According to the New Faculty Orientation Guide, one of the goals for the new professors is to "meet their new mentors and engage in specific tasks."
This is exactly what happened during orientation week.
The first bonding activity the mentors and mentees had was a mentor-mentee school quest and a self-selected bonding task. The quest was aimed at finding a fun way to help the new professors become familiar with UP.
"It was an informative 'treasure hunt' and our mentors helped us figure out how to get information on them," Peterson said. "One was 'How do I make copies?' Answer: take order to the Print Shop in BC, or ask Carol. Most of the topics are dealt with in the math department by 'Ask Carol!'"
It is the job of the mentor to be hospitable toward his or her mentee by being available for questions, as well as social engagements such as lunch.
They must also attend First Year Faculty Academy socials and schedule two teaching observations.
Before even hearing of the mentor-mentee program, education professor Kimy Liu asked for a mentor. Liu is being mentored by education professor Ellyn Arwood.
"In education, we lose 30 to 50 percent of new teachers in the first few years," said Liu. "I want to be a success at UP, so I need someone who is already a success."
Liu especially appreciates the teaching observations requirement.
"Ellyn Arwood just came by my class and watched me teach," Liu said.
"It makes you aware of your flow and interaction. It is a fresh pair of eyes with experience and wisdom telling you what you do well and what you need to work on," she said.
Although the program itself calls for the mentors and mentees to meet only a few times every semester for both work and social engagements, many new professors have gone beyond the requirements, and developed close friendships with their mentors.
"We talk all the time, every day. We are in constant dialogue," German professor Alexandra Hill said.
Her mentor is German professor Laura McLary. "Our offices are across the hall and when we are not talking to each other, we are e-mailing."
According to Hill, the relationship she has fostered with her mentor has not only helped her become acclimated to UP, but this relationship has also benefitted her students.
"German is a small department, and we are collaborating on where the program will go," Hill said. "It's hard while I'm still trying to figure out what's going on. However, this mentor program is benefitting the students, especially those who are trying to go to Salzburg or receive a Fulbright."
McLary also has positive feelings about the mentor-mentee program and the relationship she has formed with her colleague.
"There are so many practical things you take for granted after being here for awhile. It's nice to have someone to go to and talk things out," McLary said.
"We have a reciprocal relationship because mentoring goes both ways. We are teaching each other," she said.
Peterson espoused similar sentiments about her mentor-mentee relationship.
According to Peterson, her mentor has not only helped her when it comes to her questions about students, but also about her future at UP as a mathematician and a teacher.
"Right off the bat, he gave me advice in order to watch out for pitfalls in both the day-to-day and in the big picture," Peterson said. "He told me 'it is my job to push you to work to your potential.'"
