Mentorship 360

Mentorship 360 at Arizona State University's Fulton Schools of Engineering grew from work with various national universities, including those in the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN). Mentorship 360 integrates an entrepreneurial mindset-based mentorship approach through three themes:

• Instigating to advance faculty mentorship
• Connecting to build and share professional development opportunities
• Contributing to grow the knowledge base of effective faculty mentorship

Our goals are to create the research, frameworks, and resources to foster mentoring for all engineering faculty, and be the go-to, evidence-based resource for faculty mentorship in engineering.

Join us to shape the future of engineering mentorship!

• Reach out to our team.
• Get mentoring resources. 

What is a Mentor?

Role Models, Advocates, Champions + Frank, Honest and Encouraging Feedback

What do you think of when hearing the word mentor? One all-knowing and wise faculty member who will show you the ropes? 

The reality is that we are likely to have many mentors over the course of our careers. These relationships ideally benefit the mentor and mentee as the mentors provide support to help you be a whole person — professionally and personally — throughout your career.

Mentoring

Mentoring is a two-way, action-oriented activity. Seeking and providing mentoring should be a mindset rather than a one-time event. Mentoring is critical to your long-term faculty success, generating positive impacts on research output, teaching, and mental health.¹ 

Mentorship relationships can form through formal and informal mechanisms. Informal mentorship relationships develop organically through regular interpersonal interaction, whereas formal mentoring programs are offered by an institution or other entity. Both are helpful and important, but formal mentorship programs offered at an institution also ensure that all faculty have access to mentorship, normalize the activity, create a cultural expectation of mentorship, and strengthen the overall commitment to mentoring throughout your organization. 

Benefits

Mentees, mentors, academic units, and institutions:

• Benefit from diverse perspectives.
• Gain access to formal and informal networks.
• Make industry connections.
• Receive feedback on ideas, papers and proposals.
• Learn best practices for setting up labs.
• Get support for teaching and learning.
• Get promotion and tenure guidance and support.
• Find personal support throughout your career.
• Get a champion for your ideas and your career.
• Find a role model.
• Enhance professional relationships.
• Learn about funding opportunities and collaborators.
• Strengthen interpersonal skills and relationships.

Additionally, formal mentoring: 

• Cultivates a culture of learning in your organization.
• Strengthens the leadership pipeline in your academic unit or college.
• Sets new hires up for success in your institution.
• Provides senior faculty opportunities to serve as role models. 

1 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2019. "The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM." Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25568.