The tenure process just got a little friendlier with the introduction of the Tenure Track Faculty Mentoring Program at the UCDHSC downtown Denver campus. The program, headed by Professor Brenda J. Allen, master mentor and chair of the Department of Communications, and the Center for Faculty Development, was officially launched in the North Classroom Atrium on Sept. 21. It is designed to assist tenure track faculty in developing a teaching and research agenda that will successfully lead to tenure, as well as pairing tenure track faculty with senior tenured faculty.

“This pilot program will provide a variety of resources and activities to help tenure track faculty successfully navigate the path to tenure,” Allen explains. “The program also aims to foster synergistic, collegial relationships among all participants, and to strengthen our scholarly community.” 

The program will be guided by an advisory committee composed of Laura Goodwin, associate vice chancellor for faculty affairs, Ellen Stevens, director of the Center for Faculty Development; Allen; Robert Damrauer, faculty fellow for career development; Donna Langston, Faculty Assembly Diversity Committee chair; and Rene Galindo, associate dean of the School Education & Human Development.

“I am delighted beyond measure with our colleagues who have volunteered to be mentors in our pilot tenure track mentoring program,” Stevens says. “That so many would come forward is a telling and positive statement about our campus community. I also have no doubt that the opportunity to work with our Master Mentor, Dr. Brenda J. Allen, contributed greatly this outcome.”

To find out more about the tenure track mentoring program, visit the Center for Faculty Development Web site.