Being a Mentor

At Stony Brook we strongly believe that for junior faculty having a mentor within their College or School can help them build long-lasting and productive relationships with other faculty from across disciplines, navigate campus bureaucracy, and have someone to go to for help and advice. Mentors are also eligible for Stony Brook's Outstanding Mentor Award. 

Senior faculty from the University may also choose to be a part of University's Senior Mentoring group comprised of senior faculty from different colleges and schools.

Outstdanding mentors are considered for Outstanding Mentor Award.

Mentoring Guidelines

1. The Provost’s office requests from each school/college a list of mentors (advanced Associate and Full Professors). The list is compiled by the department/academic unit.
2. Each junior faculty is assigned one mentor from the department/academic unit and one mentor from a relevant field of scholarship outside the department/academic unit.
3. Each mentors/mentee group is expected to meet at least twice / year. The mentors serve both as ‘advisors’ and advocates of the mentee.
4. The mentors/evaluators provide an annual short written report (written by the departmental mentor) to the department chair/academic unit head, emphasizing achievements, work in progress, teaching and service responsibilities, professional development opportunities, as well as challenges that the mentee has faced/identified over the year; the report is to be presented and discussed at a meeting of senior faculty members.
5. The department chair/academic unit head meets annually with each junior faculty member to discuss the mentoring report and senior faculty feedback, and assesses whether the mentoring team is effective, or whether the composition should be re-evaluated.
6. Affirmation of the mentors’ team and annual mentoring should be included in the 3-year re-appointment paperwork.
7. For newly promoted Associate professors mentoring as above is also critical, probably for 2 -3 years post tenure decision.
8. Mentoring activities to be considered in the promotion evaluation from Associate to Full (under the Service section).
9. Mentors to be acknowledged through a mentoring award, college/school and/or university-wide, with or without monetary compensation.
10. The Dean or Associate Dean of each school/college functions as an additional resource of mentoring for the faculty
11. Junior faculty are notified of their responsibilities in this relationship during orientation.

Senior Mentoring Team

In addition to these department-specific guidelines, a mentoring group comprised of senior faculty from different schools/colleges meets regularly with the junior faculty to discuss issues of academia, work-life balance, time management, other concerns, and provide their advice and experience in the academic setting. If you are interested in being a part of Senior Mentoring team, please contact us.