Faculty Mentoring Report - Goals, Guiding Principles, Recommendations And Guidelines

Ohio State University: Empowering Faculty Through Mentorship

When mentoring is embraced and celebrated, faculty are empowered, departments are strengthened, and the university’s academic community as a whole thrives. A culture of mentoring is not simply about individual achievement—it is about building a shared environment where every faculty member can grow, contribute, and succeed. It flourishes in a culture of collaboration and mutual support—one that welcomes diverse ways for faculty to share and access knowledge and expertise and inspires individual, departments and schools, colleges, and universities to advance collective capacity.

Building on the insights from our multi method study, we now have a clearer understanding of the current faculty mentoring landscape at Ohio State and can turn our attention to what it will take to strengthen mentoring across the university. This next section introduces the overarching goals and guiding principles that emerged from the study, along with concrete guidelines for each unit level—TIUs, colleges and regional campuses, and the Office of Academic Affairs. Together, these components form a coordinated framework for shaping mentoring practices that are intentional, inclusive, and aligned across the institution. By clarifying shared aims and defining the complementary roles of each unit, this section lays the groundwork for a more connected and supportive mentoring culture—one that empowers faculty at every stage to grow, contribute, and thrive.

Goals of Faculty Mentoring at Ohio State

• Share knowledge and expertise to advance faculty success through approaches that are accessible and equitable.
• Promote individual faculty growth, success, and achievement.
• Institutional excellence across the university, colleges, and tenure initiating units (TIUs).
• Faculty retention.
• Embed faculty into the broader academic community.
• Foster a collaborative, mutual, inclusive faculty culture that spans all career stages and tracks, including emeriti.

Guiding Principles of Faculty Mentoring at Ohio State

• Local Catalyst for Change. Tenure initiating units (TIUs) remain the central context in which faculty experience mentoring. They are the primary sites where relationships form, expectations are clarified, and professional growth occurs. Tenured professors play a pivotal role in cultivating, modeling, and sustaining a strong mentoring culture within their units, positioning TIUs as essential catalysts for impact and innovation.
• Champions and Advocates. Colleges and regional campuses serve as champions of mentoring by supporting and amplifying the work of TIUs. They help ensure that mentoring efforts are visible, valued, and aligned with broader academic goals, while also facilitating the sharing of effective practices and fostering connections across units.
• Vision and Purpose. The Office of Academic Affairs provides institutional leadership by articulating a clear vision for mentoring across career stages and appointment types. By setting expectations and aligning mentoring strategies with university priorities, the Provost’s Office reinforces mentoring as a core component of faculty success and institutional excellence.
• Empowerment. Faculty are recognized as active participants in their own mentoring journeys. Effective mentoring empowers faculty to seek out, cultivate, and contribute to relationships that reflect their goals, values, and aspirations. This principle affirms that faculty serve as both mentors and mentees throughout their careers, shaping a culture of shared growth.
• Consistent Messaging. A strong mentoring culture is reinforced through clear and consistent communication. When the value and purpose of mentoring are affirmed across platforms—led by the Provost and the Office of Faculty Affairs and echoed by colleges and regional campuses, and TIUs—it helps normalize mentoring as essential professional practice and clarifies shared expectations across the university. 
• Collaboration and Mutuality. Mentoring is most effective when grounded in collaboration, reciprocity, and mutual investment in success. These values strengthen individual faculty, enrich TIUs and colleges, and contribute to a more connected and supportive academic community. A mentoring culture built on mutuality benefits both individuals and the institution. 
• Flexibility and Freedom. There is no single model for effective mentoring. Flexibility, adaptability, and autonomy allow units to design mentoring approaches that reflect their unique cultures and respond to evolving faculty needs. This principle affirms that mentoring programs should remain nimble and responsive rather than prescriptive.
• Dual Approach. Both formal and informal mentoring are essential components of a robust mentoring ecosystem. Formal mentoring provides clarity around expectations, processes, and institutional norms. Informal mentoring—often regarded by faculty as the most valuable—builds trust, fosters community, and supports knowledge sharing. Together, they create a comprehensive and supportive mentoring environment.
• Diversity and Inclusion. Faculty bring diverse identities, experiences, strengths, mentoring styles, as well as varied needs to their work. These differences are acknowledged and affirmed, and contributions to mentoring—in all their forms—are recognized as vital to a thriving academic community. Inclusive mentoring practices ensure that all faculty can access the support they need to succeed.
• Celebration. Mentoring is meaningful professional labor that contributes to individual and institutional success. Recognizing and celebrating mentoring contributions in affirming and innovative ways reinforces their value and encourages continued investment in mentoring across units.

Tenure Initiating Units: The Cornerstone of Faculty Mentoring

Tenure initiating units (TIUs) serve as the cornerstone of faculty mentoring. They are the environments where mentoring is most effective and where faculty consistently find the support that enables them to thrive. Our research shows that TIUs—especially for tenure line faculty—are the primary places where formal and informal mentoring relationships develop and where faculty receive the guidance necessary for success. For this reason, cultivating a robust mentoring culture within TIUs is essential.

There is no universal mentoring model; mentoring should be shaped to meet the unique needs of faculty and the unit. Both formal and informal mentoring play vital roles. Formal programs offer clarity around expectations, promotion processes, and departmental standards, giving faculty a reliable framework of support. Informal mentoring fosters collaboration, community, and the everyday knowledge sharing that faculty often value most. Together, they create a comprehensive and responsive system of support.

A mentoring culture should align with each unit’s mission, goals, and values. TIUs are encouraged to define these clearly and ensure they connect with college and university priorities. A shared vision provides a strong foundation for faculty success and guides the development and sustainability of an effective mentoring culture.

The strength of mentoring lies in cultivating a culture that celebrates collaboration, reciprocity, and mutual investment in success—for individual faculty and for the unit as a whole. TIUs are encouraged to build mentoring cultures that both guide faculty and empower individuals to shape their own mentor networks in support of their goals. This culture should be communicated consistently, framed positively, and focused on growth. It should inspire faculty, mentors, mentees, and entire TIUs to generously share knowledge and expertise, learning from one another and growing stronger together.

While all faculty contribute to a strong mentoring environment, tenured professors play a particularly important role in weaving mentoring into the fabric of the department. Through their example, leadership, and collegial engagement, they help set the tone and embed mentoring across all levels of the unit. TIU heads play a complementary role by amplifying this work and helping to institutionalize the mentoring culture that tenured professors collectively cultivate.

Recognition for mentoring should reflect the many ways faculty contribute to a strong mentoring culture. Faculty can engage through numerous on ramps: structured mentoring relationships such as one to one mentoring or mentoring pods; professional development workshops and panels; and organizing activities that spark organic, informal connections. Brief, targeted exchanges of knowledge also matter. In short, faculty can contribute to cultivating a culture of mentoring through many meaningful pathways—from formal programs to informal peer networks. With the exception of tenure track assistant professors, who are not expected to mentor others, all faculty participate in mentoring—as mentors, mentees, or both—strengthening a culture of shared growth and mutual support.

Mentoring Guidelines for Tenure Initiating Units (TIUs)

Each faculty member in a TIU helps cultivate a collaborative, reciprocal, and affirming mentoring culture. Faculty take on different roles and responsibilities—formal mentors, informal advisors, peer supporters, and role models—all of which strengthen a healthy and effective mentoring environment.

1. Roles & Responsibilities
   1. Tenured Professors
      1.  Lead the mentoring culture by modeling collaboration, reciprocity, and a shared investment in colleagues’ professional success.
   2. Department Chairs and School Directors
      1. Amplify and institutionalize mentoring practices established by tenured professors.
   3. Other Faculty
      1. Tenured associate professors and Clinical, Teaching, and Practice (CTP) faculty, contribute through shared expertise, and collaboration across roles and ranks.
      2. Tenure track assistant professors are empowered to form mentoring relationships that support their growth but are not expected to mentor.

2. Encourage Diverse Mentoring Approaches and Models

   Effective mentoring draws on multiple pathways, recognizing that faculty benefit from different forms of support across career stages and roles, and that certain approaches or models may be a better fit for some mentors than others. 

   1. Formal Mentoring Structures:
      1. Mentoring pods (peer or hierarchical).
      2. One-on-one relationships.
      3. Panels/workshops on promotion, tenure, and career advancement.
   2. Other Mentoring Opportunities:
      1. Coffee chats, lunches, and colloquia for affinity groups or those with shared interests.
      2. Expertise based panels and workshops (e.g., grant writing, publishing, community engagement, leading a lab).
      3. Professional development sessions (e.g., time management, conflict navigation, well being). 
      4. Events that create informal mentoring opportunities.

3. Recognition and Celebration of Mentoring
   1. Promote a culture that celebrates collaboration, reciprocity, and mutual investment in success for faculty and units.
   2. Encourage faculty to reflect on and document their mentoring efforts.
   3. Mentoring contributions should be acknowledged in annual reviews and promotion and tenure (P&T) documents.
   4. Recognition should be broad, inclusive, and celebratory of diverse mentoring activities.
   5. Celebrate and make visible the many ways mentoring occurs, honoring the diverse strengths and approaches that help faculty succeed.

Colleges and Regional Campuses: Faculty Mentoring Champions

Colleges and regional campuses play an important role in fostering a mentoring culture that complements TIU efforts while honoring each unit’s mentoring approaches, unique needs, disciplinary norms, and local cultures. This culture should emphasize collaboration, reciprocity, and shared investment in success—supporting individual faculty, strengthening TIUs, and advancing the college’s mission and vision. To that end, colleges and regional campuses can champion a range of mentoring approaches—such as one on one relationships, peer mentoring pods, interdisciplinary groups, and external mentoring connections—tailored to faculty interests, career stages, and disciplinary expectations.

As part of cultivating this culture, colleges and regional campuses can also support tenured professors, who play a central role in shaping inclusive, supportive, and affirming mentoring within TIUs. Providing guidance, resources, and recognition helps these faculty make mentoring a celebrated and integral part of departmental life, while also equipping TIU heads to amplify and institutionalize strong mentoring practices across their units.

While both formal and informal mentoring matter, OSU faculty consistently describe informal mentoring as the most valuable. Colleges and regional campuses can help cultivate these relationships by creating community building spaces—coffee talks, lunch gatherings, affinity group colloquia, and similar activities—that encourage supportive professional connections. Grants for peer mentoring pods, support for external mentoring relationships, and modest stipends for mentors signal strong institutional commitment. At the same time, structured college level mentoring can complement the mentoring that takes place in TIUs and support networking beyond departments and schools. Programs built around structured mentoring pods—whether peer based or hierarchical—running for a semester or a full academic year have been found to be a successful model to foster supportive connections, interdisciplinary collaboration, and professional growth. While these programs can serve all faculty, they would be especially helpful for tenured associate professors and CTP faculty.

Recognition is vital to sustaining a strong, affirming mentoring culture. Colleges and regional campuses can celebrate mentoring excellence through annual awards, appreciation events, and acknowledgment in annual reviews and P&T documents, ensuring recognition reflects the many ways faculty contribute—whether through 1:1 mentoring, mentoring pods, or sharing experiences and expertise in workshops and panels. Communication about mentoring should be consistent and positive across the college, using language that celebrates faculty contributions, reinforces mentoring as a shared responsibility, and highlights its role in advancing individual success and the mission, values, and goals of TIUs, the college or regional campus, and the university.

Mentoring Guidelines for Colleges and Regional Campuses
Roles & Responsibilities

1. Complementary Role of Colleges and Regional Campuses
   1. Reinforce TIUs as the cornerstone of faculty mentoring.
   2. Advance faculty mentoring by supporting mentoring priorities of TIUs and connecting faculty across units.
   3. Amplify effective practices that respect unique disciplinary cultures and supports local mentoring needs.

2. Cultivate a Mentoring Culture
   1. Promote a mentoring culture of collaboration, reciprocity, and shared investment in faculty and unit success.
   2. Communicate consistently that mentoring is valued professional work.
   3. Encourage diverse mentoring practices that reflect disciplinary cultures and faculty needs.

3. Provide Resources and Other Support
   1. Invest in resources that strengthen mentoring efforts, such as:
      1. Grants for peer mentoring pods (e.g., affinity groups, research teams, interdisciplinary cohorts)
      2. Funding to support external mentoring relationships (travel, honoraria, campus visits)
      3. Recognition and modest stipends for faculty who take on substantial mentoring roles
   2. Create and encourage informal networking opportunities—coffee chats, lunches, colloquia, and similar gatherings—that build connection and community.

4. Develop Programming
   1. Organize workshops on professional practices and development. Topic suggestions include:
      1. Grant writing, publishing, community engagement, building an international reputation, career progression strategies, leading a lab, national service, and research, among others.
   2. Host panels and discussions on personal development. Topic suggestions include:
      1. Time management, navigating conflict, professional well-being, among others.

5. Support for Specific Faculty Groups
   1. Provide targeted mentoring specific faculty groups through cross-unit, interdisciplinary programming that fosters networking and knowledge-sharing. Tenured associate professors and CTP faculty have current needs. Suggested programs are:
      1. Programming for structured mentoring pods—peer-based or hierarchical—that run for at least one semester, ideally across the academic year.
      2. Activities that create opportunities for informal interactions with senior colleagues and peers across TIUs, helping build professional networks and strengthen the college’s academic community.

6. Celebration, Recognition and Accountability
   1. Encourage, provide guidance on, and acknowledge mentoring contributions in annual reviews and promotion and tenure (P&T) documents.
   2. Establish awards and celebratory events for:
      1. Individual faculty mentors who demonstrate exceptional commitment to mentoring.
      2. TIUs that demonstrate excellence in fostering a strong faculty mentoring culture.
   3. Ensure recognition of mentoring efforts is inclusive and celebratory, highlighting diverse mentoring styles and contributions.

7. Partnership with TIUs
   1. Collaborate with TIUs to:
      1. Share best practices.
      2. Provide guidance on incorporating mentoring into evaluation processes.
      3. Support units in tailoring mentoring programs to their unique cultures.

7. Leadership and Sustainability
   1. Encourage and support tenured professors to collectively cultivate and lead mentoring efforts within their TIUs.
   2. Encourage and support department chairs and school directors as they amplify and institutionalize mentoring practices established by tenured professors in their TIU.
   3. Deliver consistent communication and resources to encourage and sustain mentoring initiatives over time.

Provost’s Office: Strengthening Faculty Through Shared Community and Purpose

This university-wide faculty mentoring initiative has established shared mentoring goals and expectations that highlight and celebrate the essential work of TIUs, colleges, and regional campuses. These units have long provided the foundation for faculty mentoring, and their expertise, creativity, and commitment continue to strengthen the university’s mentoring culture. Building on this strong base, the Provost’s Office is committed to reinforcing mentoring as a meaningful institutional priority and shared responsibility, while continuing to recognize and honor the vital role these units play in supporting faculty success.

The university is committed to maintaining a thoughtful balance between shared standards and local flexibility. Supporting TIUs and colleges and regional campuses as they design mentoring approaches that reflect their disciplinary cultures and priorities—while aligning with university‑wide expectations—ensures that mentoring practices remain both strong and responsive to faculty and local needs.

Looking ahead, the Office of Academic Affairs will continue to seek opportunities to further strengthen mentoring by investing in initiatives that connect faculty more fully with the broader academic community. As part of OAA’s commitment to strengthening faculty success, it aims to build a more coordinated mentoring ecosystem—one that combines structured programs with informal opportunities for connection to deepen relationships, expand networks, and support faculty across career stages.

Recognizing mentoring contributions is equally essential. The university can demonstrate its commitment by ensuring that mentoring is visible in institutional policies, annual reviews, and promotion and tenure documents, and by celebrating strong mentoring cultures through awards and other forms of acknowledgment.

OAA commits to partnering with the Graduate School to create a coherent mentoring pathway that extends from graduate education through faculty careers. Establishing this continuum would affirm the importance of graduate mentoring, strengthen the long‑term academic community, and contribute to supporting a strong alumni network.

Together, these commitments reflect a clear institutional aspiration: to build a robust, connected, and supportive mentoring culture that strengthens faculty success and honors the essential work of TIUs, colleges, and regional campuses while ensuring the university plays an active and accountable role in advancing faculty success.

Mentoring Guidelines for the Provost’s Office

1. Communicate Institutional Commitment 
   1. Affirm faculty mentoring as a strategic priority essential to both faculty growth and institutional excellence.
   2. Acknowledge and elevate the strong mentoring already happening across academic units and communicate OAA’s commitment to sustaining and amplifying this work.
   3. Highlight how mentoring contributes to a vibrant academic community where faculty thrive and the university advances its mission.

2. Expectations and Role Clarity
   1. Ensure faculty understand their responsibilities and how their work aligns with the university’s mission, vision, and goals.
   2. Provide clear, supportive written guidance tailored to each career stage and appointment type.
   3. Clarify mentoring expectations across roles in ways that honor disciplinary differences and recognize unit level expertise.
   4. Equip academic units with the resources and structures needed to cultivate collaborative, inclusive, and effective mentoring environments.

3. Recognition and Accountability 
   1. Acknowledge the full range of mentoring activities—formal and informal—in institutional policies, annual reviews, and promotion and tenure processes.
   2. Celebrate strong mentoring cultures within TIUs, colleges, and regional campuses, honoring the essential work already happening across units.
   3. Recognition strategies may include:
      1. Annual faculty mentoring awards
      2. OSU Faculty Mentoring Honors Society
      3. Celebratory events and banquets
      4. Public acknowledgment through university communications
      5. Incentives for colleges and regional campuses, such as grants to support mentoring initiatives or mentoring leadership certification

4. Communication Strategy 
   1. Communicate consistently—across platforms and from the Provost’s Office through colleges, campuses, and departments—to reinforce mentoring as a shared institutional priority. 
   2. Clearly articulate mentoring goals in ways that highlight its impact on faculty success, institutional excellence, and a culture of shared responsibility.

5. Flexibility and Local Innovation 
   1. Maintain shared institutional standards while granting colleges, TIUs, and regional campuses the flexibility to design mentoring approaches that reflect their unique disciplines and cultures.
   2. Encourage innovation and adaptability as faculty needs evolve.

6. Integration Across Career Stages
   1. Partner with the Graduate School to create a seamless mentoring pathway from graduate education through faculty hiring, professional development, and advancement.
   2. Recognize the enduring role of dissertation advisors for long-term faculty success and integrate graduate mentoring into the broader university mentoring culture, strengthening the long term academic community.

7. Promote Structured and Informal Mentoring Opportunities
   1. Develop university wide, extended mentoring programs that support faculty success and communicate university level expectations at pivotal career stages.
   2. Support programming and events that foster organic, cross unit connections among faculty, complementing the mentoring efforts of TIUs, colleges, and regional campuses.

7. Monitor and Evolve Mentoring Initiatives
   1. Establish collaborative feedback mechanisms and regularly review mentoring programs to ensure they remain responsive to faculty needs and aligned with institutional priorities.
   2. Use assessment findings to refine and strengthen mentoring initiatives over time.

Study Strengths and Limitations

This mentoring initiative employed a comprehensive, multi method design and invited participation from the full population of stakeholders most directly involved in faculty mentoring at Ohio State. This approach provided both a broad and nuanced understanding of mentoring perspectives, experiences, practices, and models. All college and regional campus deans and associate deans of faculty affairs were invited to participate in interviews, and nearly all did so. All department chairs and school directors were also invited to join focus groups, and many contributed their insights. These conversations added important qualitative depth and offered contextual understanding that complemented the survey findings. In addition, all CTP faculty were invited to participate in a focus group. The conversations fostered open, transparent, and engaging dialogue that offered valuable insight into their unique experiences. While broader participation from practice faculty and from more CTP faculty outside medical fields would have perhaps added further nuance, the main topics that emerged during our discussions were not discipline-specific and were relevant across colleges and TIUs. Substantial insights were also gained from peer institutions. Their mentoring programs and conversations with several of university leaders at these institutions illuminated effective strategies and inspired several of the recommendations in this report.

All eligible tenure line faculty at OSU were invited to complete a faculty mentoring survey, resulting in participation from a substantial cross section of colleges, campuses, and faculty roles. The survey responses generated a rich body of knowledge about OSU tenure line faculty and their mentoring perspectives and experiences. Although the overall response rate was modest, it is consistent with institution wide faculty surveys of similar scale, and the number of respondents supports meaningful interpretation of broad patterns. For this reason, the findings emphasized in this report highlight themes that were consistent across colleges, appointment types, and subgroups.

More advanced statistical analyses—such as regression modeling—would allow for additional exploration of the nuances in tenure-line faculty mentoring perspectives and experiences. These analyses were outside the scope of this report and are noted here only as methodological possibilities for future institutional study.

Although the survey collected detailed demographic information, subgroup specific analyses are not included here. In several cases, the number of respondents within particular demographic groups was small, reflecting broader patterns in faculty composition. Without more robust statistical modeling, reporting those results could risk overinterpretation. The findings presented here therefore focus on descriptive patterns that were strong and consistent across groups and colleges.

These limitations highlight opportunities for continued inquiry as Ohio State advances its commitment to building a comprehensive, equitable, and evidence based mentoring culture.

Closing Reflection

Our aim in this work was to develop an evidence based, university wide faculty mentoring framework that honors the commitment, excellence, and lived experiences of faculty colleagues across Ohio State. From the outset, we sought to ensure that the framework reflected the strengths of our faculty and the thoughtful mentoring practices already taking place across our TIUs, colleges, and regional campuses. 

We approached this effort with a deep sense of responsibility and respect for the expertise within our academic community. Our goal was to listen carefully, learn from the diverse perspectives and experiences across the university, and design a framework that aligns with who we are as an institution. Insights from peer institutions and the extensive literature on mentoring were thoughtfully incorporated, recognizing the valuable foundation they have created and the lessons they offer.

This framework is intended to evolve as Ohio State’s needs evolve. We are encouraged by the possibilities ahead and confident that it provides a strong foundation for strengthening mentoring across the university. It has been a privilege to engage with faculty, academic leaders, and colleagues throughout this process. Their candor, expertise, and commitment to mentoring have shaped this work in substantive ways. As we move forward, we are confident that our collective efforts will continue to strengthen and advance a mentoring culture that elevates faculty and Ohio State.

Expanded Literature Review Sources