Mentoring Overview

 

“The wonderful thing about life is that you cannot succeed on your own (or fail on your own); others are essential in defining who you are.” Geoffrey M. Bellman, Author Getting Things Done When You Are Not In Charge

The University of Kansas School of Medicine Mentoring Initiative is dedicated to enhance and support the environment which has created a place where everyone wants to come to learn, to teach, to conduct research and to receive his or her health care.  Members of the faculty will be strengthening through the leadership of a strong mentoring program which is based on the idea that junior faculty need both specific/content-oriented mentoring (e.g., specialty-specific career information) and content expertise (e.g., teaching skills, or professional writing skills used in grant writing, publications and manuscripts), as well as overall career advice relevant to advancing as a medical school faculty member.  A career mentor will be assigned to serve primarily in the second (general career) capacity, but may ask others to serve as project mentors in the first (content and specific) capacity. Focus of the program is on four critical skills:

1. Managing a productive academic career in medicine:
   1. In support of your own academic career needs and desires, while
   2. In support of the institutions missions and goals.
2. Understanding the formal (and informal/implicit) values, rules and operating procedures in academic medicine.
   1. Understanding criteria for advancement in your track, and
   2. Understanding how the merit and promotion system works
3. Developing and sustaining a network of professional colleagues.
4. Know where to go for advice, help and training.

Purpose

The primary purpose of this program is to provide a mechanism to assist and propel junior faculty (i.e., tenure earning or wishing to move to tenure track or not) through a smooth transition period from early in their career, promoting the advancement and retention of new faculty into our next generation of academic physician and research leaders.

To participate in the mentoring program contact your department chair, division chief, center director, or Dr. Robert Klein, Associate Dean for the Office of Professional Development and Faculty Affairs.

Documents & Tools

Mentors and Mentees may save time by using the following tools and forms developed to help prevent reinventing the “wheel of record keeping.”  Feel free to use, download and customize to fit your personal needs or those of the department, division or other organization.  For assistance, please contact Marty Gunion mgunion@kumc.edu in the Office of Professional Development and Faculty Affairs.

• Faculty Mentoring Program
• Mentee Application Form
• Mentor Application Form
• Mentee’s Planning for Mentoring Tool
• Mentor’s Planning for Mentoring Tool
• 1st Meeting Agenda
• Individual Development Plan (IDP) Form
• Meeting Agenda
• Meeting Worksheet
• 90-Day Trial Tool
• Quarterly or Semi-Annual Evaluation Form
• Annual Mentoring Evaluation Form – Evaluates Mentee
• Annual Mentoring Evaluation Form – Evaluates Mentor
• Final Mentoring Review Form
• Mentee Ending the Formal Mentorship Checklist Tool
• Mentor Ending the Formal Mentorship Checklist Tool
• Mentoring Program Evaluation Form
• Mentoring Bibliography

Department Resources

Director of FacultyDevelopment or Mentoring contacts at other medical schools:

• Georgetown School of Medicine (as of 5.20.08)
• UC Davis School of Medicine (as of 5.20.08)

Articles

• Academic Mentoring: How to Give It and How to Get It
• Nature’s Guide to Mentors
• Tasks and Goals at Different Stages of  Faculty Career in Academic Medicine
• Entering Mentoring: A seminar to train a new generation of scientists