Latitude: Meet Ron Rorrer and Storm Gloor (video)

Bolstering personal, professional ambitions

In addition to knowledge, mentoring pair finds friendship

By Shayne Clark
Integrated University Communications

A huge part of the pursuit of tenure is knowing what is anticipated of you and what to you should anticipate. Storm Gloor, assistant professor in the College of Arts and Media, is in his third year teaching at the University of Colorado Denver. Having no teaching experience before coming to Denver, Gloor finds his pairing with Ron Rorrer, associate professor of mechanical engineering, extremely beneficial. They were paired in the Tenure-Track Faculty Mentoring Program, designed by the Center for Faculty Development to assist assistant professors obtain tenure. “Being paired with Ron has really made a huge difference in my understanding of just what is expected in the tenure track,” Gloor says.

For Gloor and Rorrer, being paired with someone outside of their discipline is a benefit. To begin with, they don’t have to deal with any of the interdepartmental politics that could potentially get in the way. As Rorrer explains, when “you’re not in the same department or college, you know the relationship you develop is one where there is no hidden agenda. I think that’s the basis of the relationship, it is a blank page and you fill it.”

Rorrer has been surprised by how much he has benefited from being a mentor in the program. “You’re not looking to gain anything as a mentor even though that’s the inside joke. The mentors often joke that we get more out of the program than we give. I think you’re trying to give back to the faculty.”

Not only has Gloor benefited from the program in his pursuit of tenure, his pairing with Rorrer has also impacted his teaching abilities. “There are so many basic questions that someone being a first time professor would want to ask. I can’t tell you how many ideas and improvements I have made to my teaching students as a result of my talking with my mentor or the other mentees,” Gloor says.

In their time in the program, Rorrer and Gloor have developed a friendship as well. Gloor, who moved here from Texas, has found it helpful to have someone he can talk to about life in general, as well as the pressures of academia.

In some cases, they are able to lend a helping hand. Gloor recalls, “I ride my bike to work each day and I had a flat tire so I needed a ride home. It was Friday at 5 o’clock. So lo and behold, I call the Bat Phone and the mentor is there and all of the sudden I have a ride home.” Both quip that a real mentor would have shown him how to fix his flat tire.

Gloor has been pleasantly surprised at how much he has gotten out of the program. Being a new professor, the program gives him valuable skills he can bring to the classroom and prepare him for his attempt at tenure. As he puts it, “I don’t understand how someone starting here would not be in it.”

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