Role of the Onboarding Ambassador

Onboarding Ambassadors should hold an "administrative support position" in the department if someone other than the administrator will provide the assistance with orientation for new faculty members. Delegation of specific Onboarding steps is made by the administrator and or their chair. The individual does not need to be the new hire's administrative assistant, just someone able to assist a new faculty member with becoming comfortable and productive in their new role and environment.

The primary role of the Ambassador includes:

• Guiding the new faculty member through all the logistical "red tape" of getting started in their new position.
• Helping the new faculty member become aware of anything and everything they should know about on campus related to faculty needs and interests that may not be a requirement of their on-boarding process.
• Sharing department and campus experience -- such as who's who, easy ways or "short cuts" to getting around the campus, resources for information, avoiding the "land mines", how to navigate the balance of completing their remaining on-boarding steps with their new job responsibilities once they have arrived and begun their work.
• Social networking -- such as introducing the new faculty to colleagues in their own department as well as those who may be of help in other departments.
• Assisting the new faculty member with general information about Kansas City, or pointing them to someone who may be a better help with local information.
• Making the new faculty member feel secure with knowing they have one person to whom they can turn for basic, logistical job related questions, or at least provide them with the security of knowing their ambassador can find the answers if they do not already know the answers.

The Difference between the Ambassador and the Mentor

Departments assign an Onboarding Ambassador who will serve as the individual for all administrative and basic logistical orientation to work questions: logistical issues, facility tours, and introduction to people in the department. Ambassadors could be department chairs, division directors, department administrators, administrative assistants or anyone within a department who is best qualified to handle this responsibility.

Once a new faculty member is on-board all effort will be made to find them a faculty Mentor; a faculty member who will answer professional questions and address career issues. In many situations more than one mentor is assigned but only one will oversee a junior faculty member's career through promotion. Visit the School of Medicine's Faculty Mentoring Program site for more information.