VCU Faculty Mentoring Program
Program Pilot: 2025-26 Academic Year
The mentoring program is launching as a pilot in August 2025. The program begins with 10 mentors that will provide 20 mentee spots (vertical dyads) and includes additional faculty mentors as part of each knowledge group (see Figure 1). In spring 2025, workshops were held with mentors to provide guidance on effective mentoring practices and strategies for developing mentoring relationships. Program assessments will be conducted to identify areas of growth, opportunities for revision and expansion.
Christopher Brooks, Anthropology, College of Humanities & Sciences
Sarah Jane Brubaker, Wilder School
Kendall Buster, Sculpture & Extended Media, School of the Arts
Michael Cabral, Electrical & Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
Amy Cook, Wilder School
Krista Donohoe, Geriatric Pharmacotherapy, School of Pharmacy
Stephen Fong, Chemical & Life Science Engineering, College of Engineering
Parthasarathy Madurantakam, General Practice/Dental Research, School of Dentistry
Jason Merrick, Supply Chain Management & Analytics, School of Business
Karla Mossi, Mechanical & Nuclear Engineering, College of Engineering
Tamer Nadeem, Computer Science, College of Engineering
Jeff Shockley, Supply Chain Management and Analytics, School of Business
Fernando Tenjo, Biology, College of Humanities & Sciences
Faika Zanjani, Gerontology, College of Health Professions
Jose Cortina, Management & Entrepreneurship, School of Business
Leslie Cloud, Neurology, School of Medicine
Charlene Crawley, Chemistry, College of Humanities & Sciences
David Downs, Finance, Insurance & Real Estate, School of Business
Samy El-Shall, Chemistry, College of Humanities & Sciences
Ramana Feeser, Emergence Medicine, School of Medicine
Amol Karmarkar, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, School of Medicine
Suzanne Mazzeo, Psychology, College of Humanities & Sciences
Maria Rivera, Biology, College of Humanities & Sciences
Semi Ryu, Kinetic Imaging, School of the Arts
Program Overview
VCU’s Faculty Mentoring Program integrates two parts: (1) a vertical dyadic approach of a mentor-mentee and (2) knowledge groups of faculty to provide comprehensive support in the areas of research, teaching & learning, and in navigating academia. Participants engage in activities including 1:1 mentor/mentee meetings, tailored knowledge group sessions, and a Mentors’ Café.The program welcomes assistant and associate professors (tenure-eligible/tenured and term).
Figure 1: Structure of Mentoring Program¹
Description
Vertical Dyads: Assistant and associate professors can select preferred full professors from the list of mentors provided. Matches are then coordinated by Faculty Affairs staff. Each mentor may work with up to two mentees. The program encourages mentees to select mentors outside their department and school/college to broaden perspectives. This is the individualized part of the mentoring program.
Knowledge Groups: The program includes three knowledge groups for all mentees, each composed of 3 to 4 faculty members. These groups provide targeted guidance in the following areas:
Research and Scholarship: This knowledge group will provide information and guidance to enhance your research and creative endeavors. Examples: pointing to potential collaborators, strategies for writing and publishing and building creative art, writing grants and securing external funding; providing tips about these topics by sharing experiences.
Teaching and Learning: This knowledge group will support teaching and learning. Additionally, the programs/sessions/tools provided by the Center for Teaching & Learning Excellence may be accessed. Examples: scholarship of teaching and learning; sharing syllabi information, ways to engage students, ideas for curricular innovation.
Navigating Academia: This knowledge group will assist with thinking through academic expectations, managing workloads, navigating challenges, identifying resources, balancing life-work and assessing goals – short and long term - periodically.
In the first-year pilot, each knowledge group will host one open session a semester for all mentees.
Benefits to Mentees
- Candid conversations from one-to-one advice and support
- Guidance about navigating academia
- Support for retention and increased productivity
- Direction for developing a career plan
- Awareness of and access to resources through knowledge groups
- Expanded professional community and networks
Expectations
All mentors will be required to attend a workshop offered by the Office of the Provost-Faculty Affairs prior to starting to meet with mentees. A refresher workshop will be offered at the start of each academic year. Additionally, mentors must meet with their mentees at least twice a semester. The mentors should also be accessible in the event the mentee has an unanticipated concern.
The mentors will attend one Mentor’s Café each semester. The café will be a space for mentors to share issues, concerns, and accomplishments, and advice tips. These interactions will enable administration to respond to and address recurring concerns and disseminate accomplishments.
Assistant and associate professors may seek assistance from Faculty Affairs to select their mentor. Each mentee will meet with their mentor at least twice a semester, and additionally if there is a pressing issue. The mentees are expected to attend the meetings with the knowledge groups and share professional successes with Faculty Affairs.
Both mentors and mentees are expected to participate in the assessment of the effectiveness of the program.
The knowledge groups are intended to provide additional mentoring support to assistant and associate professors. To do this, the Office of the Provost - Faculty Affairs will identify topics of interest and host sessions through the knowledge groups to support the mentees. Each knowledge group will contribute to at least one session each semester for all the mentees. The session will be structured in consultation with Faculty Affairs.
Resources
Mentors: see here for resources. [You will need to log in using your VCU username and password to access.]
¹ The foundations of the VCU Faculty Mentoring program are drawn from the CRN model adopted and implemented by Mangala Subramaniam at Purdue University which remains as her intellectual property. Reference: Subramaniam. Mangala. “Doing the ‘Work’ of Creating Transformative Structures for Faculty Success: Model for Mentoring across Gender and Race.” Unpublished paper.