Aim and Goals of Program

The University Library (UL) faculty mentoring program aims to support the career development and scholarship of all faculty through mentoring. The mentoring program will create opportunities for mentors and mentees to engage in a learning relationship that will be collaborative and reciprocal, and which will enhance growth through mutual accountability and responsibility.

Through this program, the Library faculty hope to foster academic excellence, build a strong and diverse faculty, and develop a respectful and positive work climate in which all members of the university community can thrive. The UL seeks to make faculty mentoring a priority by undertaking and regularizing sound mentoring practices.

Goals of the Program

  • to help new and/or junior faculty successfully negotiate the UIC periodic review or promotion and tenure process
  • to learn the research process
  • to help new and/or junior faculty understand UIC faculty activities outside the Library, such as membership on the UIC Faculty Senate or on Senate Committees
  • to develop as professional librarians

Developing as a professional librarian means performing one’s work to high standards, both in terms of proficiency and ethics, in one’s assigned roles as well as engaging in professional service. The mentoring program does not include professional development (i.e., cross training or learning new proficiencies). This does not mean that professional development cannot occur in one’s career at UIC, but it is not the purpose of this mentoring program.