Faculty Mentoring Guidance for Tenure-Initiating Units

Tenure‑initiating units (TIUs) are the cornerstone of faculty mentoring at Ohio State.

Effective TIU mentoring includes both formal and informal approaches.

TIUs are the primary environment where faculty mentoring occurs. They are where mentoring relationships most naturally take shape and where faculty find the guidance and support that help them thrive.

Faculty‑to‑faculty mentoring is most impactful when it is embedded in the daily academic life of departments, schools and programs. TIUs provide the context in which faculty learn expectations, develop professional relationships and build networks that support long‑term success.

Tenure‑initiating units (TIUs) drive strong mentoring cultures by intentionally supporting both formal and informal mentoring. Formal mentoring clarifies expectations and promotion processes, while informal mentoring builds trust, collaboration and shared learning — together creating supportive environments where faculty can thrive.

Roles and responsibilities within TIUs

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

Department chairs and school directors

TIU heads amplify and sustain mentoring practices.

They support mentoring by institutionalizing effective practices collectively led by tenured professors. They reinforce shared responsibility, align mentoring with unit values and priorities, and help ensure mentoring remains visible and supported over time.

Tenured professors

Tenured professors lead and model strong mentoring cultures.

They play a central leadership role by cultivating and sustaining mentoring cultures grounded in collaboration, reciprocity and shared investment in colleagues’ success. They model effective mentoring practices and contribute to an inclusive, supportive environment for faculty at all stages.

Tenured associate professors and CTP faculty

Faculty across roles contribute to mentoring in diverse ways.

Tenured associate professors and Clinical, Teaching and Practice (CTP) faculty contribute to mentoring through shared expertise, collaboration and support for colleagues across roles, ranks and career stages.

Tenure‑track assistant professors

Participation as a mentor is optional for tenure‑track assistant professors.

Tenure‑track assistant professors may choose to participate in mentoring activities as mentors but are not expected to do so. This ensures they can focus on their own professional development while benefiting from mentoring support.

Mentoring approaches in TIUs

TIUs use multiple formal and informal mentoring approaches. Effective mentoring draws on multiple pathways, recognizing that faculty benefit from different forms of support across career stages and roles. Approaches may include one-to-one mentoring, mentoring pods, panels and workshops focused on promotion and career advancement, and informal activities that foster organic, supportive relationships among faculty.

Recognition of mentoring

Recognize that mentoring is essential to sustaining a strong mentoring culture.

Document and acknowledge mentoring

Mentoring contributions should be documented and acknowledged. Faculty are encouraged to reflect on and document their formal and informal mentoring efforts. These contributions strengthen our academic community and should be recognized in annual reviews and promotion and tenure (P&T) materials as valued scholarly and service work that advances faculty and institutional success.

Inclusive and celebratory recognition

Recognition should reflect the diversity of mentoring contributions. Recognition of mentoring should be broad, inclusive, and celebratory, making visible the many ways mentoring shows up in practice, and honoring the diverse strengths, experiences and contributions that help faculty succeed. Celebrating these contributions reinforces a culture where mentoring is valued, shared and central to who we are.

Assessing Tenure Initiating Unit (TIU) Mentoring Culture

strong mentoring culture promotes mutuality, collaboration, reciprocity, and unity, and aligns with the mission and values of the TIU and its disciplinary culture. It supports all faculty—whether mentees, mentors, or peers—across every type of mentoring relationship, from pods to one-on-one or informal models. At Ohio State, this culture reflects our commitment to shared learning, collective excellence, and uplifting faculty at every rank. TIUs are encouraged to foster an environment where faculty feel supported, learn from one another, and share their expertise in ways that strengthen individuals, departments, and the broader university community.

The purpose of this assessment is to support TIU leaders—whether mentor leads, champions, or the TIU head—in sparking an open and honest conversation about their mentoring culture: what it looks like now, what is working well, and where there is space for growth, fresh ideas, and innovation.

It may be that you tackle all the questions or focus on a few. The key is to get the conversation going and moving your TIU towards a culture that supports all faculty. As you work through these prompts, reflect on how your mentoring culture supports faculty at every stage—from associated faculty and tenure‑track colleagues all the way to our most senior faculty—and how your TIU can keep building a community where everyone is supported and able to thrive.

Clarifying the Unit’s Vision and Purpose

In what ways does our mentoring vision reflect our TIU’s mission, disciplinary culture, and values?
How clearly have we communicated the purpose, goals, and value of mentoring within our TIU? Where can we improve?
How are we fostering a mentoring culture that feels positive, affirming, collaborative, and rooted in mutual investment?
What intentional (and unintentional) messages are we sending about how much we value mentoring, across all faculty ranks and appointment types?

Understanding Roles and Responsibilities

How do tenured professors in our unit collectively model, lead, and cultivate a mentoring culture?
How are TIU heads or directors helping to amplify, sustain, and celebrate faculty-to-faculty mentoring practices?
Are faculty mentoring contributions shared equitably across faculty—and if not, how can we improve?
How are we communicating mentoring expectations across faculty ranks and appointment types?

Assessing Current Mentoring Practices

What formal mentoring opportunities do we currently offer (e.g., one‑on‑one mentoring, peer mentoring pods, mentoring committees, workshops)? How well are they serving our faculty?
Informal mentoring is highly valued by Ohio State faculty. How do we intentionally create welcoming spaces and opportunities for informal mentoring to flourish?
Are our mentoring efforts inclusive, equitable, and accessible to all faculty, and where do we have opportunities to grow?

Supporting Faculty Across Career Stages

How effectively are we supporting tenure‑track assistant professors as they navigate professional expectations, institutional culture, and P&T processes?
What meaningful support and guidance are we providing for tenured associate professors as they plan their next steps?
How are we helping tenured professors continue to learn, lead, and grow?
How are we meeting the unique needs of CTP faculty around expectations and workload?
How are we involving emeriti faculty in our mentoring culture?

Empowering Personalized Mentoring Networks

How do we encourage faculty to cultivate diverse networks of mentors inside and outside the TIU?
What resources—such as Faculty Development Plans (FDPs), mentoring agreements, or financial support for external mentoring—should we encourage and support to help faculty identify their mentoring goals and needs?
How can we support faculty, across ranks and appointment types, in building a constellation (network) of mentors tailored to their professional goals and needs?

Strengthening Relationship Quality and Mentoring Skills

Do faculty have access to the tools, training, and confidence they need to mentor effectively?
Are we offering opportunities to grow skills in communication, feedback, cultural humility, and navigating conflict?
How are we preparing mentors and mentees to set shared expectations, boundaries, and commitments?

Ensuring Equity, Inclusion and Belonging

How do we intentionally support faculty who may face challenges finding mentors with similar lived experiences or perspectives, across ranks and appointment types?
How do we remain attentive to equity in both access to mentoring and the distribution of mentoring contributions across our faculty?
In what ways are we intentionally caring for and supporting underrepresented or isolated faculty within our TIU, and where might there be opportunities to strengthen these efforts?

Recognizing and Celebrating Mentoring Contributions

How do we convey that mentoring is meaningful, valued, and essential to our unit’s success?
In what ways are mentoring contributions recognized and valued in annual reviews and promotion and tenure processes?
How do we remain flexible and supportive of a wide range of mentoring approaches, models, and styles?
How do we recognize and celebrate excellence in mentoring—through awards, acknowledgments, or community events?

Creating Accountability and Sustainable Practices

What systems do we use to track mentoring efforts and support an equitable distribution of mentoring workload?
How do we ensure that mentoring responsibilities are shared in ways that feel sustainable and fair, rather than falling on a small number of individuals?
How regularly do we reflect on, review, and refresh our mentoring practices to keep them strong, relevant, and responsive to faculty needs?

Partnering Beyond the TIU

How might we better engage mentoring resources across colleges, campuses, and the broader university to support our faculty?
What external mentoring opportunities—such as professional societies or interdisciplinary collaborations—can support our faculty, and how can we encourage them?
In addition to internal mentoring opportunities, tenured associate professors and CTP faculty at Ohio State would benefit from mentoring beyond their TIU, whether across the college or campus or the university. How do we connect with programs outside our TIU that support and uplift mid‑career and CTP faculty?

Building Effective Mentoring Cultures in TIUs: A Guide for Action

Tenure initiating units (TIUs) are the foundation of faculty mentoring at Ohio State, serving as the primary spaces where faculty form formal and informal mentoring relationships, receive guidance, and build community. This guide supports TIUs in cultivating affirming, inclusive, and sustainable mentoring cultures that advance faculty success, strengthen departmental community, and align with college or regional campus, and university level mentoring goals. It emphasizes mentoring as a supportive, shared endeavor—one that balances flexibility and local autonomy with appropriate structure—so that mentoring practices remain responsive to disciplinary contexts while staying grounded in shared university values and principles. Strengthening mentoring within TIUs is therefore essential to supporting faculty success across all career stages.

1. Clarify Shared Roles & Responsibilities

Tenured Professors

Serve as primary stewards of mentoring culture within the TIU.

Model collaboration, reciprocity, and mutual investment in colleagues’ success.

Share expertise in varied forms (e.g., informal advice, mentoring pods, panels, workshops).

Contribute to supporting an inclusive mentoring culture across rank, appointment, and career stages, including assistant, associate, and CTP and (where relevant) emeriti faculty.

Chairs / Heads / Directors

Amplify and institutionalize mentoring priorities of faculty.

Clearly communicate expectations around mentoring in annual meetings, onboarding, and reviews.

Ensure mentoring responsibilities are distributed equitably rather than concentrated on a few faculty.

Use affirming, supportive messaging when fostering mentoring engagement.

All Faculty

Contribute to mentoring in ways aligned with strengths, roles, and capacity.

Support a culture that values both relationship-based guidance and knowledge sharing.

Help create a welcoming, collegial environment that encourages informal connection.

Note: Tenure-track assistant professors are encouraged to engage in mentoring but are not expected to serve as mentors.

2. Align Mentoring with TIU Mission, Values and Culture

Review and articulate the TIU’s mission, goals, and values regularly.
Explicitly connect mentoring practices to disciplinary priorities and departmental culture.
Ensure mentoring approaches reflect both local autonomy and broader college or regional campus and university goals for faculty success and retention.

3. Implement Formal and Informal Mentoring Approaches

Formal Mentoring Examples (as appropriate to TIU context)

Assign mentors or mentoring pods (peer based or hierarchical).
Structure onboarding for new faculty.
Organize panels and workshops on specific topics, such as promotion and tenure, advancement, career progression, leadership, grants, or departmental norms.

Informal & Relationship Based Mentoring Examples (Highly valued by faculty)

Coffee chats, lunches, colloquia, and affinity-based gatherings.
Peer learning circles or writing/research groups.
Open door practices that encourage ongoing, organic guidance.

Effective units intentionally create spaces where informal mentoring can emerge, recognizing that this form is often perceived as the most meaningful and impactful by faculty.

4. Foster an Inclusive, Positive Mentoring Culture

Offer mentoring opportunities across all career stages and faculty tracks, including CTP faculty.
Encourage faculty to build personalized mentoring networks rather than rely on a single mentor.
Use language that affirms mentoring as a shared investment in the TIU—not a burden or compliance task.
Create environments where diverse voices, identities, and experiences are respected and valued.

5. Recognize and Celebrate Mentoring

Encourage faculty to document mentoring contributions broadly, including formal, informal, and collective efforts (e.g., workshops or panels)
Acknowledge mentoring in annual reviews and, where appropriate, promotion and tenure materials.
Celebrate mentoring through newsletters, meetings, awards, panels, or public recognition of expertise.
Encourage, highlight, and celebrate varied contributions (see Mentoring Models and Approaches)

6. Reflect, Learn and Sustain Mentoring Efforts

Periodically reflect—informally or formally—on how mentoring is working within the TIU.
Invite faculty feedback on evolving mentoring needs across career stages.
Adjust approaches as faculty priorities, workloads, or unit culture change.
Reinforce mentoring as a shared, collective responsibility that strengthens both individuals and the TIU.

Closing Principle

Effective mentoring is not about a single prescribed model; it is about cultivating an inclusive, flexible culture of collaboration, trust, and shared purpose—where faculty are encouraged and excited to share their knowledge and expertise. When mentoring is affirming, visible, and aligned with local TIU values and needs, TIUs become spaces where faculty across all career stages can flourish.