January 2023: Congratulations to our new cohort of Mentors - Mentees!
- Assistant Professor Onur Avci, Civil Engineering / Professor Rakesh Gupta, Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
- Teaching Assistant Professor Carter Hulcher, Fundamentals of Engineering / Professor David Martinelli, Civil Engineering
- Teaching Assistant Professor Dimas Abreu Archanjo Dutra, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering / Associate Professor Christopher Griffin, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Goals
To build a strong and engaged academic community for faculty and staff in the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University (WVU) that reflects the interests and goals of these stakeholders.
General Information
Faculty and staff mentoring should be both a formal and an informal activity that should extend beyond the minimum effort of informing these constituents of the requirements for achieving success in their career. The Dean of the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, Pedro Mago, is a strong believer that mentoring is a valuable investment in the College future to promote and sustain academic excellence. As such, under his leadership, a new Mentorship Program has been tailored for the development of faculty and staff to allow these constituents to thrive. While the formal mentorship is a natural progression associated with the employee’ responsibilities, the informal one is more recently recognized as an integral part of the success and retention of the employee.
This newly developed informal mentoring program is designed to include multiple aspects of the academic life, from balancing professional to family obligations. Program is indented to address the needs of all stakeholders as they advance through their careers; the program is based on a process of self-selection in which mentors and mentees are engaging in a mutual partnership to establish an open and beneficial program, unrestricted by academic unit designed (sometime considered restrictive) formal program. Moreover, this informal program is designed to be attentive to mentoring across different background, professional stage, gender, sexual orientation, race, and culture, as needed by the engaged parties.
Who Are The Mentors
- Volunteers, i.e., from different academic units’ or Dean’s office, at different stage/s of their professional development.
- Volunteers, i.e., other successful professionals (could be alumni or colleagues from other Colleges or Academic Units at WVU) with a passion for mentoring and with dedication to WVU and the Statler College mission “to honor the worth of every individual and sustain an environment where all people are encouraged to succeed and excel”.
General Roles Of The Informal Mentor
- Informal mentors will provide a supportive environment.
- Informal mentors are expected to be available for informal discussions with the mentees.
- Informal mentors are expected to provide constructive feedback.
Resources Provided
An incentive of $300 is provided for each Mentor-Mentee group to be used for informal lunches or afterhours meetings (no alcohol *Notes: If lunches are the form preferred: A total of maximum 10 lunches/ i.e., one per month distribution or minimum 5 lunches/ i.e., 2 lunches per month, are sponsored. These meetings should be seen as an additional environment that allows for sharing in informal settings. Additional tools for communications and/ or programs. If additional tools for communications and/ or programs are needed, then the individual Mentor-Mentee program is to be reaching to the program coordinator (Professor Dinu) to discuss those needs and find additional means for support.
Recognition
Recognition is an integral part of the annual evaluation for the Mentor/Mentee relationship. The Mentor and Mentee are to receive a certificate to attest of their participation in the Program. Lastly, the mentor is to receive a thank you item (total value: $25) that can also be selected up from the list of official WVU items, i.e., https://www.shopwvu.com.
Accountability
Progress reports at 6 month and one year respectively (i.e., maximum 2 pages/ minimum one page, Times New Roman, 12 size font, 1 line spacing; figures could be included to not account in the page limit) are required. The reports are to be submitted to statler-engagementdean@mail.wvu.edu, attention Cerasela Zoica Dinu, Associate Dean for Student, Faculty and Staff Engagement.