TTT logo

Volume 10, Number 2: November 30, 2003

Support for Junior Faculty:
Mentoring via Electronic Mail at UW-La Crosse

by Tammy Kempfert
Editor, Teaching with Technology Today

line

Administrators at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse have devised a novel way to help their tenure-track faculty off to a good start. In order to provide new faculty with accurate, manageable, and timely information, they have merged the concept of faculty mentoring with a common technological tool: they connect with their first- and second-year faculty through a series of regular bulletins, all sent via electronic mail.

Betsy Morgan and William Cerbin, both of whom serve as professors of psychology and as administrators at the university, implemented the program. Throughout the year, Morgan dispatches approximately 45 emails, each spotlighting new faculty survival skills. And she strives to synchronize bulletin themes with the flow of UW-La Crosse's academic calendar--sending messages on finals and turning in grades, for example, near the latter end of the semester. Other topics include various university policies and procedures, teaching advice, and personnel information.

While not intended to replace face-to-face mentoring, the program supplements the support given to new faculty at UW-La Crosse. John Colton, a first-year professor of physics, says he attended new faculty orientation sessions and took notes on the information presented there. For Colton, however, the emailed bulletins represent a more convenient way to retrieve information when he needs it. "Right now, for instance, I'm getting a lot of emails about advising, and in my department, they're not particularly relevant at this time. But I just store them in my email program's filing system until I need them, and then I'll read them more carefully" he says. He also says the emails help psychologically: "I look at the long list of recipients of these messages, and I know I'm not alone [in dealing with the challenges of the first year at the university]," he says.

Betsy Morgan says that she and Cerbin have considered ways to build interactivity into the program, such as setting up online chats or discussion forums that focus on bulletin themes. But for now, she prefers interspersing electronic with face-to-face support, perhaps by holding brown bag sessions, or even occasionally having lunch with faculty individually to discuss specific concerns. As the message sender, she sometimes receives questions related to the bulletins, to which she always responds. "Because I'm someone removed from their department, I can go to the department chair--without using any names--and get an answer," she says. This, she feels, creates a "safer space" for faculty needing their concerns addressed.

Morgan authored most of the emails, which called for a significant investment in time at the program's onset. Now in its fourth year, the mentoring program requires far less effort, she says. "We've done some assessment, and we've updated messages and added new material as things in the university have changed, but I would say about 90 percent of the emails are the same as in the first year." Still, she stresses the importance of vigilance: "The work now is reading through the policies and making sure we have the information correct," she says. For example, UW-La Crosse recently changed its process for scanning computerized testing sheets, which meant the information presented in the mentoring emails also needed revision.

Originally, Morgan sent the bulletins to new faculty exclusively. Now, the program includes not only new faculty, but department chairs with new faculty, and all new chairs. "The one year we didn't include the chairs, the program didn't have the livelihood we feel we have now," she says. She also emails copies of the messages to any offices or staff members mentioned in the bulletin "to help them anticipate the potential flood of questions."

Brian Udermann, another new faculty from the Department of Exercise and Sport Science, recommends the program unequivocally. In his second year at UW-La Crosse, Udermann says he refers to his archived new faculty emails almost every week. He cites several as having been particularly helpful--including the tips for better teaching, suggested resources for faculty and students, and advice for balancing teaching, scholarship, and service--but says all of the messages have been informative. "I have every intention of keeping those emails and using them as references for many years to come," he says.

This year, Morgan helped run junior faculty orientation at UW-La Crosse. She recommends that anyone implementing a similar email program participate in his or her campus's orientation proceedings and become acquainted with as many new faculty as possible. Also, samples of UW-La Crosse's email bulletins are available online at blackboard10.imt.uwm.edu. (Log in as "guest3" and type "guest3" as the password. Select "UW-L Faculty Development" under "My Courses"; then select "Course Information.") Morgan invites TTT readers to use anything they find helpful on the website, with one caution: "make sure all of their links are working, if they use it, and also that they plug in all of the information specific to their campus."

"It's been really exciting to see how successful this program has been," she says. "It's been fun."

line

For more information, see Morgan, Betsy and William Cerbin, 2001. "You've Got Mentoring: Enhancing New Faculty Development with Timely Email Bulletins." AAHE Bulletin. Online at http://www.aahebulletin.com/public/archive/mentoring.pdf.



home button