Purpose: to provide supplementary support to M&I students and postdoctoral fellows by our junior faculty.
Rationale:
Although M&I students generally receive excellent mentoring from
their faculty supervisors, dissertation committees and the program
director, they may benefit from an independent perspective that can be
offered by junior faculty who are closer to their career stages and who
have recently been in job searches/negotiations and have only recently
established their independent research projects. Junior M&I faculty
are eager to engage these trainees to provide informal support that can
supplement but not replace mentoring provided by their supervisors, as
well as to share their own experience in early stages of career
development.
Departmental plans: The M&I department
will initiate an informal plan to involve junior faculty in the informal
support of M&I students and postdoctoral fellows. These faculty
will receive training to ensure that they adhere to UTMB policies and
academic best practices in this role, including guidelines for
maintaining confidentiality and reporting problems that rise to certain
levels. A list of faculty willing to participate will be provided to
students and postdocs (see below), who will be free to contact one or
more volunteers to identify those whom they feel can best assist them.
Informal
Interactions: The timing and nature of one-on-one informal interactions
will be left to supporting faculty and trainees with no formal
reporting requirements. We will anonymously poll participants to
evaluate the success of the program.
Informal Social
Interactions: We will hold bimonthly social events for graduate students
and postdoctoral fellows to meet informally with junior faculty
participants to identify those who might be a good match for one-on-one
interactions, or for participating in the small mentoring groups.
Semi-formal
small mentoring groups for postdoctoral fellows and graduate students:
We will organize small groups of 4-5 postdoctoral fellows or students
and 2-3 junior faculty to discuss career paths, the transition from
student to postdoctoral and other roles, and from the postdoctoral role
to faculty and other more permanent positions. These informal groups
will also cover other general topics such as career-personal life
balances, alternative career options, etc. These meetings will be
scheduled based on the desires of each group, probably bimonthly, either
late afternoon, for lunch, etc.
Evaluations. The
department will perform an anonymous annual survey of faculty and
trainees participating in the program, as well as from faculty overall,
to identify any problems arising. The Chair will seek feedback and
advice from the Chair’s Advisory Committee to make improvements as
needed. Formal supervisors will be asked to contact the Chair or
Graduate Program Director if they feel uncomfortable with their trainees
participating in the junior faculty support program.
Participating Faculty:
Alison Coady: MRB 3.142D; Phone: 409-772-4917
Jason Comer: GNL 6.200T; Phone: 409-266-6915
Maureen Laroche: Office GNL 5.200U, Phone number 409-266-6911
Yuejin Liang: MRB 3.130; Phone number: 409-772-4911
Ken Plante: Keiller 3.146B ; Phone : 409-747-2431
Parimal Samir: MRB 7.138E; Phone:409-772-4921
Wenjing Yan: Office: 4.126; Phone number: 409-354-4600
Matthieu Gagnon: MRB 4.104C; Office Ph. 409-772-2326; Cell Ph. 203-892-4452