Download the Rethinking Mentoring Guide
Learn how institutions are moving from good intentions to structured, scalable mentoring practices that support faculty at every career stage.
The Problem This Guide Addresses
Faculty overwhelmingly agree that mentoring matters. Far fewer say it is actually working at their institution.
That gap is not a reflection of effort. It is a structural problem. Without a clear, campus-wide strategy, mentoring tends to be inconsistent, informal, and unevenly distributed. Some faculty receive strong support. Others receive very little. And the consequences show up in satisfaction, retention, and culture.
NCFDD’s Rethinking Mentoring Workshop Series was developed to help institutions close that gap with a research-based, flexible approach that supports academic leaders, faculty mentors, and mentees alike.
What is the Rethinking Mentoring Workshop Series?
The Rethinking Mentoring Workshop Series is an institution-wide program designed to help campuses build more consistent and sustainable mentoring systems. Rather than focusing only on individual mentor-mentee relationships, the series takes a strategic approach that aligns leadership, equips faculty, and creates lasting infrastructure for mentoring to work.
The series includes a facilitated mentoring strategy session, an assessment of your current mentoring efforts, three interactive workshops, an online community space, and a practical toolkit to support implementation. Workshops can be delivered virtually or in person and are available in combinations that fit your institution’s needs:
- Rethinking Mentoring at Your Institution, for academic leaders
- Becoming an Effective Mentor, for faculty
- Building Your Mentoring Network, for faculty
The series was developed in collaboration with Harvard’s Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE), drawing on research that documents the mentoring effectiveness gap across higher education institutions nationwide.
Who is this for?
This guide is designed for provosts, deans, department chairs, and faculty development leaders who are responsible for faculty support and institutional culture. It is also relevant for faculty development professionals evaluating campus-wide programming and for any leader who has recognized that mentoring at their institution is a priority but lacks a clear path forward.
What is in the guide?
The Rethinking Mentoring Guide gives campus leaders a clear overview of the series and how to bring it to their institution. Inside you will find:
- Why most institutions face a mentoring effectiveness gap and how to address it
- The core components of the Rethinking Mentoring Workshop Series
- How a campus-wide mentoring strategy improves faculty satisfaction, retention, and culture
- How to build leadership buy-in and integrate mentoring into broader faculty development goals
- How to identify misalignment between faculty mentoring needs and current systems
About NCFDD
NCFDD is a professional development, training, and mentoring organization that partners with colleges and universities to support faculty success. We offer structured programs, research-backed training, and expert-led workshops to help institutions build more supportive academic environments. Serving a national network across hundreds of institutions, NCFDD supports faculty and academic leaders at every career stage.
