Developing a Culture of Belonging through Faculty Mentoring

In recent fiscal years, faculty turnover has been a challenge for Wor-Wic Community College as a small, rural college (more about Wor-Wic here). Anywhere from 10% to 14% of faculty left the college each year, for reasons including retirement, relocation, and health concerns. Yet, data from human resources indicate that 70% of the faculty who left in FY 2023 did so by choice, and in FY 2022, 50% left by choice. It was clear that faculty retention needed to be addressed, and after reviewing exit surveys, one of the ways we are tackling this challenge is through improved faculty mentorship.

The Importance of Faculty Mentorship

Wor-Wic’s goals for mentoring new faculty include:

• Assisting with the transition to a new position and/or college
• Creating a sense of belonging
• Supporting faculty to help students succeed, create stable departments, and reduce turnover

The 2023 Higher Education Employee Retention Survey conducted by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) noted that pay/salary concerns was the reason most-cited reason for employees seeking other employment. This finding is evident in both staff- and faculty-specific surveys. Most recently, the need for a flexible work schedule has also topped the list.

The CUPA-HR survey noted that the most important facets of job satisfaction are recognition and feeling valued. The college discovered the same findings when reviewing exit surveys from departing dissatisfied faculty. Two comments from departing faculty at Wor-Wic support these findings: “When people feel valued, it makes a difference in their performance and they do more,” and “lack of appreciation and work-life balance.” Departing faculty also shared a particularly relevant positive comment: “Mentor was excellent.”

Revamping Our Program

The Wor-Wic Community College faculty mentoring experience has evolved since its launch in the fall 2006 semester. During the initial development of the faculty mentoring process, new faculty were paired with faculty volunteers who agreed to serve as mentors. As the program matured, faculty mentoring became more formalized with administrator oversight, regularly scheduled semester meetings, and program assessment provided through survey feedback. Faculty attrition, along with changes in college leadership organization, prompted a reevaluation of the faculty mentoring structure and program administration.

In August 2022, a new faculty mentoring structure was introduced to include formalized administrative support and oversight. This transition generated the development of specific mentoring qualifications to provide an optimal experience for new faculty. Faculty mentor qualifications include:

• Three years of full-time faculty experience
• 20 hours per semester time commitment for attending faculty mentoring meetings
• Good standing with the institution
• At least one faculty promotion since employment
• The faculty mentor is not the immediate supervisor

Other recommendations are for mentors to work close to new faculty, ideally in the same department or with similar course assignments. With the goal of building a faculty learning community, all mentoring pairs are deliberately created to facilitate the development of collegial relationships by providing new faculty support while acclimating into academic roles.

The faculty mentoring experience is planned by the faculty mentoring committee. Comprised of faculty and two administrators serving as co-chairs, the faculty mentoring committee aligns mentoring topics with the academic calendar to ensure information presented is timely and useful for new faculty. Additionally, the faculty mentoring committee administers an end-of-experience faculty mentoring survey and utilizes feedback to inform future improvements to the mentoring program. The faculty mentoring co-chairs share planning and implementation responsibilities to provide optimal support and flexibility in program administration.

Before launching the revitalized mentoring format in the fall 2022 semester, the faculty mentoring committee recommended the development of a Microsoft Teams site to provide new faculty with a centralized location to access documents, support resources, and instructions to navigate college systems. The Teams site functions as an electronic database of training materials supporting faculty in completing academic and student affairs operational tasks. Faculty mentoring “how to” presentations are archived in the Teams site for reference. The Teams site serves as a training tool for faculty mentors to review college procedures improving the effectiveness of the college orientation process.

Structure of the Program

The goal of programming for new faculty mentoring meetings is to create a sense of belonging through the development of professional and supportive relationships. For this to be accomplished, faculty mentoring meetings are held once a month throughout the academic year for 90 minutes. Each session is divided into three, 30-minute segments that are dedicated to the following:

Introduction of key college personnel – There are often key college personnel whose role is pivotal to first-year success for a new faculty member. Traditionally, communication with these individuals is via email or on an ‘as needed’ basis. Introductions to key personnel help new faculty know who is available for solutions and allow these individuals to be seen and offer their support. Examples of key personnel might include the disability coordinator, campus counselor, Title IX coordinator, dean of student services, registrar, public safety, president, etc. It is not as important that a new faculty member immediately understand the scope of services provided within each of these positions, but that they know a name, can see a face, and are invited to stop by an office, if needed. For these reasons, conducting the introduction in an interview format establishes the first contact and keeps new faculty from being overwhelmed with information.

‘How to’ presentations focusing on classroom management and administrative responsibilities – Throughout the academic calendar year, there are responsibilities and due dates that impact various campus offices. These include submission of attendance, mid-term grades, course level assessment, and academic progress alerts. To a seasoned faculty member, these tasks are second nature. However, for a new faculty member who is learning so many different procedures and software packages, it can be overwhelming. Following the academic calendar, presentations can be scheduled to address these needs. If mentors are asked to make the presentations, because they are already known within the cohort of the program, it encourages a relaxed atmosphere for learning. Also, with mentors presenting, it establishes faculty as the experts, and therefore the ‘go to’ when additional questions arise.

Conversation Starters – To encourage purposeful conversations between mentor and mentee, the last thirty minutes of programming is dedicated to purposeful discussion. Often the topics focus on issues of classroom management. Suggested topics include student requests to submit late assignments, use of cell phones in the classroom, students in distress, etc. After approximately twenty minutes, the group is gathered for report outs, questions, and announcements about the next meeting. It is not unusual that after the first half of the year, similar discussions are held not in dyads, but among the entire cohort.

Building the Right Atmosphere

Even more essential to a sense of belonging is the maintenance of a positive atmosphere, recognition of all present, and creation of a jovial, relaxed approach to the meetings. At the first meeting, mentors and mentees are asked to share with the group why they said ‘yes’ to the offer of teaching at the college or why they continue to remain a faculty member at the college. Additionally, having a physical space in which dyads can sit together and hold discussions apart from the larger group is beneficial.

Preliminary Results

Wor-Wic has completed two years of the revitalized faculty mentoring program and survey results from past participants have been very positive. When asked about interest and enthusiasm in the faculty mentoring process, 100% of mentee respondents gave the highest rating of excellent. Additionally, 75% of mentees rated the effectiveness of the faculty mentoring program as excellent and 25% rated the experience as good.

Overall comments about the faculty mentoring program included

• “I think this is a wonderful and much-needed program for all new faculty!”
• “It was a great experience.”
• “I am grateful for all the work put into this program. I thought it was a great success.”

The college will continue to refine the faculty mentoring program and track success in the goals of increasing a sense of belonging, creating stability in departments, and supporting faculty to help students succeed.