URI faculty mentors receive new award

11/25/08 - University of Rhode Island Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Winifred Brownell and professor of Plant Sciences Roger LeBrun have been selected as the first recipients of the URI Faculty Mentor Award.The relatively new award is an integral piece of the ADVANCE program, a five-year program funded by the National Science Foundation that, according to the ADVANCE Web site, is designed to "improve and enrich scientific, technology, engineering and mathematic academic workforce at URI."

The award, shaped to resemble a hexagonal crystal gem, is based on an old naval tool strategically placed in the top deck of a ship. Weather permitting, light hitting the crystal would refract, providing light to the decks below.

The Faculty Mentoring Program is designed to introduce new faculty to the university and prepare them to do the best job possible.

Brownell said the URI Faculty Mentoring Program works by disseminating knowledge to the newer faculty from those who have been in the front lines before.

Brownell said she was very touched to receive the award, and her efforts would not wane.

"I am astonished and very honored," she said. "But it's a never-ending process and we are always trying to improve."

She said the range of the mentoring program is extensive, and is based on the new faculty member's background when it comes to introducing him or her to the campus.

For instance, a professor who is from Rhode Island will not need to get familiar with the area, and professors who know a faculty member already will be paired to that faculty member.

"URI is fortunate that our ADVANCE program published a guide on mentoring that identifies best practices to welcome and support new faculty members," Brownell said. "I recommend that faculty mentors review the publication and implement the valuable ideas they suggest."

LeBrun said the mentoring program is based on the individual, and varies in structure depending on where the faculty member is from.

"If somebody comes to a new place to work, there are needs some individuals have that I try to fill," he said. "If they don't have any problems and they seem to be accommodated very well, there is very little to do.

"It varies on the individual and when they come to the university. We want to make sure they are guided in a way that I wish I had been guided when I first arrived at the University of Rhode Island, give them what I never got."

Both Brownell and LeBrun said this program also benefits students, both directly and indirectly.

"One of the big aspects [of this program] is the fact that if you have a mentor that is really good at mentoring faculty, that mentor is going to be even better at mentoring students," LeBrun said. "Especially graduate students when they are going to enter the workforce in academia, because then I'm getting an insight into what new faculty really needs so I can prepare my graduate students later on."

Brownell said the program helps professors better connect with their students and therefore aids in the students' instruction.