Tenure Track Faculty Mentoring

Mentor Connext

Mentor Connext is a tenure-track faculty mentoring program sponsored by the FDC! The goal of this program is to support pre-tenured faculty on their journey to tenure. This program provides an opportunity for cross-campus conversations about research/creative activities, teaching, service, career development, building community, RTP, stresses and demands, and life as an academic at CSUF.

In Mentor Connext, CSUF tenured faculty mentor pretenured faculty to build cross-campus relationships through conversations about research/creative activities, teaching, service, career development, building community, the RTP process, challenges, and opportunities as an academic at CSUF. The aim of the program is to support faculty from across campus —both mentees and mentors—in their academic, professional, and personal growth at CSUF.

The program is designed so that mentees are able to work with multiple mentors, each of whom can provide support in different areas of expertise. Mentees may choose to work with more than one mentor (perhaps one mentor for scholarship and another for teaching). Mentor Connext aims to support faculty sense of belonging at CSUF.

Mentors are tenured faculty members who are: a) interested in mentoring pre-tenured faculty from outside their discipline; b) focused on deepening their cultural responsiveness and mentoring skills; and c) committed to further institutionalizing faculty mentoring at CSUF.  The program consists of mentoring up to three tenure-track mentees from spring through and including fall (both semesters), engagement in program reflection and evaluation, and participating in four mandatory workshops each semester. Topics addressed in the workshops include faculty mentoring relationships, networking, antiracism, culturally-responsive mentoring practices, and challenges faced by under-represented pre-tenure faculty at CSUF.