Developing and Sustaining Effective Faculty Mentoring Programs

How do faculty and universities benefit from mentoring, and what sorts of mentoring programs and policies are most effective? This article reviews existing research on mentoring in higher education and develops a conceptual framework that captures a theory of change regarding expectations about the impact of mentoring on faculty career development and scholarly productivity. We surveyed faculty in U.S. public affairs programs to learn about individual and institutional experiences with mentoring and mentoring programs. We found that informal mentoring is prevalent, as are formal mentoring programs. In line with previous research, we found that both mentees and mentors believe that mentoring is useful for helping mentees with teaching, research, and career planning and that visible support for mentoring is important for its success. Guided by our findings, we offer recommendations for developing and sustaining effective faculty mentoring programs.