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Cornell University

Office of Faculty Development and Diversity

Mentorship

Mentorship is a crucial component of professional development, providing opportunities for advice, encouragement and professional connection. In addition to supporting career goals and work-life balance, mentoring relationships also provide a safe space for open discussions.

OFDD’s Best Practices in Faculty Mentoring outlines the role of mentorship at Cornell, as well as mentoring formats, benefits, and considerations for each. Mentorship expectations, goals and outcomes can vary depending on your field.

Small Group Mentoring Program

OFDD’s Small Group Mentoring Program (SGMP) brings together three to nine faculty who share an interest in a broad topic, a discipline or disciplinary group (e.g., “engineering”), or even a career stage (assistant or associate professor). The goal is to move the group’s careers forward through mentorship and support on issues relevant to the professoriate.

Visit Small Group Mentoring Program

Additional Resources for Mentors and Mentees

  • NCFDD

    NCFDD (formerly The National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity) a nationally recognized, independent organization, provides online career development and mentoring resources.

  • Mentoring Best Practices

    Read the University at Albany’s recommended best practices for mentoring relationships.

  • Cornell’s FAIM Resource Center

    The Faculty Advancing Inclusive Mentoring (FAIM) Resource Center is an equity-based systemic change initiative for inclusive mentorship, a collaboration of the Graduate School, Provost’s Office of Faculty Development & Diversity, and TRUST Alliance.

    FAIM offers a number of practical tools and resources to collaboratively establish, communicate, and refine mutual expectations for mentor/mentee pairs.

  • Faculty Mentoring Roundtable (Video)

    “Translating Research on Mentoring to Practice,” a faculty roundtable on mentoring graduate students and postdocs, with featured speaker Dr. Julie Posselt, Associate Professor of Education and Associate Dean of the Graduate School, University of Southern California, and Director of the Equity in Graduate Education Consortium. Watch the recording.