“Mentoring is a critical component of the professional development of junior faculty and the well-being of the institution.”[1]
 
Establishing effective mentoring programs can help universities improve retention rates, thereby decreasing the costs of start-up packages and retaining accomplished tenure-track faculty.[2] Having successful mentors can help new faculty understand the unspoken rules in academia, increase their workplace satisfaction and ultimately result in increased productivity.[3] Effective programs such as automatic mentor assignments and networking groups for women can dramatically improve the careers of faculty and strengthen the university as a whole.

Create Mentoring Programs to Support Junior Faculty

Issue
Junior faculty can benefit greatly from the experience and expertise of their more senior colleagues. Particularly in STEM fields, where women are a minority, mentoring programs can help ensure that junior faculty members do not “fall through the cracks” and integrate new faculty members into the department as well as the broader profession.

Automatic Mentor Assignment
As soon as a new faculty appointment is made at the University of California, San Diego, the department chair assigns a mentor. The chair advises new faculty members on matters pertaining to advancement and ensures that mentors have current information on university academic personnel processes. The mentor is responsible for contacting the new faculty member in advance of his or her arrival at the University and meeting with the mentee on a regular basis over the first two years to provide confidential and informal advice on various aspects of faculty life and work. There is no evaluation or assessment of the new faculty member on the part of the mentor, only supportive guidance and constructive feedback.[4]
 
Women Mentoring Women Network
Through the Faculty Women’s Forum, Stanford University’s Women Mentoring Women Network invites senior women faculty to share their experiences and advice with junior women faculty. The Network also provides a one-on-one mentoring network that matches interested junior women faculty with senior colleagues in or outside their discipline.[5]
 

Institute Professional Networking Opportunities for Women

Issue
In academia, networking can be instrumental in finding colleagues who can be co-authors and research collaborators, and to position oneself for peer reviews. Yet women tend to establish fewer professional contacts, and are more often left out of informal networks than their male colleagues. Promoting professional networking opportunities for women can foster gender equity throughout the university and allow others to network with these best and brightest that might otherwise be left out.

Women's Faculty Forum
Yale University’s Women’s Faculty Forum fosters gender equity throughout the university and encourages collaboration and networking among its female faculty, administrators, students and alumnae members. The Forum also promotes scholarship on gender and scholarship about and by women across all schools of the university. Led by a Council, a Steering Committee and Co-Chairs, the Forum administers innovative programs and projects and oversees the research components of the WFF initiatives. WFF staff includes two Gender Equity and Policy Post-Graduate Associates and a half-time Administrative Assistant.[6]