To: UNL Faculty Members
From: Stephen W. Ragsdale, Chair of the UNL Research Council
Date: Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Tenured or Pre-tenure (please circle)
Academic Department ___________________________ (information will not be shared
in a way that individuals can be identified)
Mentorship and Career Development of Junior Faculty at UNL
The Research Council has been discussing issues related to mentorship of junior
faculty at UNL. We believe that a climate of supportive mentorship fosters the
development of junior faculty in all type of scholarship, especially development of
strong research programs. Last Academic Year, we mailed a list of 10 questions to
all department heads and received responses from 40 department chairs. These
questions relate to junior faculty career development and mentorship. A Mentorship
Subcommittee of the Research Council discussed the results of this survey. Our
general impression was that some departments do an adequate job of mentoring
junior faculty, while many do not.
The following questionnaire represents the next stage of this process. Joining with
Academic Affairs, we are mailing this document to all pre-tenure and tenured faculty
members at UNL. We plan to categorize these into academic departments and then
randomly select and analyze approximately 200 responses each from the tenure and
pretenure categories, ensuring that each academic department is represented. Thus,
your response is extremely important. We hope that we may catalyze a campuswide discussion on “mentorship” and promote a more supportive environment for the
developing careers of our junior faculty. We plan to sponsor a round table
discussion(s) focused on the responses to these questions.
On behalf of the Research Council and Academic Affairs, I ask you to
please answer the following questions. Please return the questionnaire to
Peggy Filliez by campus mail or by email by Monday November 8, 2004.
This information is provided as a word document and as a pdf file that also
includes appendices describing career development programs offered by
the VCR office and those sponsored by Academic Affairs.
1. Is there a compulsory mentoring program in your department?
Briefly describe the program and the tasks and expectations of the
mentor or the mentoring council. How does this mentoring program
help early-career faculty meet expectations regarding the
apportionment of their responsibilities?
2. Is there an informal mentoring program? Briefly describe.
3. Does the department provide release time during the pre-tenure
period? Under what circumstances? From what responsibilities?
4. Does the department provide-allow course buy-outs as part of
professional development that is clearly beneficial to the university
and the individual?
5. What other kinds of support are offered to early-career faculty (e.g.,
summer salary, graduate student, postdoctoral, or technical
support)?
6. How are the teaching responsibilities distributed among pre-tenure
and tenured faculty members? Please provide details.
7. What are the service expectations for junior faculty in your
department?
8. Is there a departmental structure to offer advice on grant
writing/proposal writing and teaching?
9. If you are aware of any recent tenure failures in your department,
what is your impression of why they happened (e.g., insufficient
extramural funding, too few publications, poor teaching).
APPENDIX:
Current programs to develop the careers of pretenure faculty members.
 Professional grantwriting seminars with Grantwriters Inc. (Steve Russell and
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David Morrison). One in the fall (Oct 14-15, 2004) for anyone on campus, one in
the spring (March 11-12, 2005) focusing mainly on junior faculty and graduate
students. Professional grantwriting seminars with Steve Russell’s team.
CAREER/NIH K Award Workshop held March 5-6, 2004. This was especially for
developing NSF Career and NIH K01 awards. There were 43 attendees. This is
held annually; this was the second year.
2005 Summer Grant Writing Institute (2nd year). May-June 2005. This is an
intensive, 6-week program that will take faculty through a step-by-step process of
grant proposal preparation and submission.
Initiative on Expert Review of Grant Proposals. The VCR will provide assistance
in obtaining peer review of federal grant proposals prior to submission.
Proposal Development Assistance
o External expert reviews, funded by VCR, by Steve Russell.
o UNL Office of Proposal Development, which includes a team of four
grant writers who will help UNL faculty and administrators develop
competitive external grant proposals. Specialists will help applicants
meet a funding agency’s proposal requirements and help improve
clarity, organization , and visual appeal of grant applications.
Research Fair (March 8-10, 2005). Representatives of the major funding agencies
will describe various areas of support and emerging funding opportunities. This
three-year program has traditionally included
o Workshops for graduate students and graduate faculty
o Workshops by Federal Program Officers for UNL Faculty
o UCARE/Undergraduate Research Conference
Please see the Office of Research and Graduate Studies website for details
(http://www.unl.edu/research/).