
TCPL Mentoring Program

The Teaching, Clinical Professors and Lecturers (TCPL) Mentoring program is a university-level, faculty-led program intended to provide teaching and clinical faculty with supportive relationships and experienced guidance around all aspects of academic life. Mentors provide advice on issues that are central to TCPL professional success, including available institutional resources, networking, time management, service, work/life balance, and on how to navigate departmental cultures.
This program complements and functions alongside any existing departmental or divisional mentoring efforts, but it is focused on the unique mentoring needs of TCPL faculty. To learn about other mentoring opportunities at Miami, contact your academic department and division or check out our links for additional resources.
The program runs for one academic year, from August to May. The mentoring groups are reformed each fall, but participants can choose to stay in the same mentoring group if they continue into the program.
Eligibility
Participation in the Faculty Mentoring Program is open to TCPL faculty across all campuses. Mentors and mentees decide together the parameters of their relationship, the frequency of their interactions, and the best way to meet (in person, virtually, or both).
Our Matching Strategy
The TCPL Faculty Mentoring Program supports the mentors' and mentees' desire to have meaningful conversations about their growth as professionals at Miami. We strive to match mentees with mentors from the same department and/or division, whenever possible. If this is not possible, we create mentoring groups from cognate disciplines.
Participant Expectations
The mentor and mentee will cultivate a working relationship for one academic year, although this can be extended, if both parties agree. The major role of the mentor is to guide their mentees as they construct their professional development plan, prepare their annual activities as a living dossier, and/or apply for promotion.
Apply to be a Mentee
Do you want professional advice from a more experienced colleague? Do you want to meet and learn from other TCPL faculty in your department or division? Form lasting relationships that help.
Program benefits for mentees:
As mentee, you will benefit from peer insights on how to navigate the institutional terrain at Miami, receive advice on how to balance the demands of teaching, service, and life, meet colleagues within and outside your department, and expand your professional network.
Apply to be a Mentor
Do you want to be a mentor? Do you want to share your institutional experience and knowledge with other TCPL at Miami? Do you want to build deeper professional connections with other TCPL faculty in your department or division?
Program benefits for mentors:
As mentor, you will gain university-level service, give back by contributing to the professional growth of a colleague, expand your professional network at Miami, and become eligible to join the Steering Committee on TCPL mentoring.
Resources
Mentor/Mentee Responsibilities
As a mentor, you should:
- Have up-to-date knowledge of the TCPL promotion process as posted on Provost website and TCPL canvas site.
- Know the official contact person within the Dean’s office for TCPL affairs in the division of your mentees.
- Be aware of CTE and Provost events that aid TCPL faculty and encourage participation.
- Maintain confidentiality regarding all meetings with mentee.
- Provide honest and respectful feedback to mentee.
- Be willing to share personal experiences that have helped you reach your current level.
- Reply to your mentor's communication in a timely manner.
- Let your mentor know how they can help you.
- Familiarize yourself with the resources on the TCPL Mentoring and Resources Canvas site and the Provost's Website.
- Get acquainted (you might share CVs ahead of time).
- Establish the frequency and length of meetings (general expectation is once/month).
- Discuss short and long term goals.
- Determine the expectations/responsibilities of the mentor and mentee.
- Any specific concerns/questions of the mentee.
- Teaching Philosophy and Plan for Evaluation of Teaching
- Service Expectations and Opportunities
- Networking
- Professional Development Plan
- Promotion Dossier
- Annual Activity Report
TCPL Resources and Mentoring Canvas site
- For books on faculty mentoring and coaching, visit Miami's Mentoring Library, housed in the Center for Teaching Excellence (Laws Hall)
- To access sample dossiers, annual activities reports, PDPs, and more, visit our Canvas site
- If you are a TCPL faculty member interested in joining this Canvas site, email TCPLmentoring@miamioh.edu
- New Faculty Teaching Enhancement (NFTEP) Program
- National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity
Further Resources on Mentoring
Online Guides from Other Institutions:
- Faculty Mentoring Toolkit, University of California San Francisco
- Guide to Best Practices in Faculty Mentoring, Columbia University
- Guide to Best Practices in Faculty Mentoring, Columbia University
Articles:
- How to Be a Great Mentor (Inside HigherEd, 2013)
- Why (and How) We Need to Improve Faculty Mentoring (David Kiel, 2019)
- Hanover Research: Report on Effective Mentoring (2014)
Books:
- Faculty Mentoring: A Practical Manual for Mentors, Mentees, Administrators and Faculty Developers (Susan L. Phillips and Susan T. Dennison, 2015)
- On Being a Mentor: A Guide for Higher Education Faculty (W. Brad Johson, 2015)
- Hanover Research: Report on Effective Mentoring (2014)
- Transformative Conversations: A Guide to Mentoring Communities Among Colleagues in Higher Education. (Peter Bauman Felten, Kheriaty H-Dirksen L.& Aaron Taylor, 2013)Faculty Success through Mentoring: A Guide for Mentors, Mentees, and Leaders (Carole Bland & al, 2012)
Please send any questions to TCPLmentoring@MiamiOH.edu.