Yale Department of Psychiatry Junior Faculty Mentoring Program
Program Coordinator
Marina Picciotto, PhD, Charles B. G. Murphy Professor of Psychiatry and Professor in the Child Study Center, of Neuroscience and of Pharmacology; Deputy Chair for Basic Science Research, Yale Department of Psychiatry
Purpose
To assure that Assistant and Associate Professors on the ladder tracks up to 10 years on faculty have information they need to be promoted.
To provide yearly feedback on scholarly, research, teaching and clinical work and to address areas of relative weakness so that these can be strengthened in time for promotion review.
To make sure that Assistant and Associate Professors receive feedback from 2-3 other faculty members in addition to their mentors so that they can get constructive feedback and recommendations from those who are somewhat more distant from their work.
To provide an opportunity to discuss any issues related to interactions with mentors or concerns about aggressions by members of the community, particularly due to race, sex or sexual orientation.
The Mentoring Committee – Composition and Procedures
1. The committee is composed of 3 people decided upon by the junior faculty member in conjunction with mentoring program director. The composition of the committee can change if the interests/career path of the junior faculty member changes.
The committee should include at least one senior member of the department familiar with the promotion process and the focus of the faculty member. Other members could be another Professor in a related area, an Associate Professor who has recently gone through the promotion process or who has other related interests. The primary mentor will generally not be on the committee since the Assistant Professor should already be having frequent discussions with that person.
2. The committee meets at least once a year with the faculty member. A current CV and the CV supplement should be forwarded to the committee prior to the meeting.
3. After the meeting, the faculty member writes a brief summary to be shared with the committee. This should include concrete goals for the next year that would help in progression to promotion. Please also forward this to Dr. Picciotto.
4. The Mentoring committee should advise the Assistant or Associate Professor of any potential problems that need to be dealt with to move toward promotion. The faculty member should share the results of this meeting with their primary (and secondary) mentors.
NOTE: The primary (and any secondary) mentors should meet with the faculty member more frequently to discuss progress in research, teaching and/or clinical work, and should also discuss issues such as hiring, grant writing and personnel/lab management when appropriate.