Faculty Mentoring at Columbia — A Best Practices Guide

February 08, 2016

Dear colleagues:

Over the past decade, the university has made a significant investment in the recruitment and hiring of a world class, diverse faculty.   One recent outgrowth of these efforts was the creation and dissemination of the University’s Guide to Best Practices in Faculty Search and Hiring, a resource for enhancing fairness and equity in search and hiring practices university-wide. 

Recruiting and hiring world-class scholars are only the first steps towards ensuring a strong faculty body.  We must also be diligent in our efforts to retain, develop, and promote faculty members, including providing consistent and robust mentoring programs.   

We are pleased to share a new resource, which provides guidance for faculty mentoring efforts university-wide.   The Guide to Best Practices in Faculty Mentoring provides the evidence base and strategies necessary for schools and departments to develop new mentoring programs, or to assess and augment their existing programs.

We welcome your feedback on the guide.  Please forward any comments to Dennis A. Mitchell ([email protected]), Vice Provost for Faculty Diversity and Inclusion.  Feedback received this semester will be incorporated into the print version of the guide, scheduled to be disseminated in the fall.  The Guide will also be maintained online as a living document. 

We thank you for all that you do to contribute to Columbia’s vibrant community, and we look forward to your active engagement in this important effort.  

Sincerely,

John H. Coatsworth 
Provost and Professor of International and Public Affairs and of History

Lee Goldman 
Harold and Margaret Hatch Professor of the University 
Executive Vice President and Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine