Faculty Mentoring

Mission

The Faculty Mentoring Office supports faculty throughout their careers at Gannon University. The Mentoring Coordinator and Assistant Mentoring Coordinators offer programs of interest to all faculty, orient new faculty to Gannon University, act as a resource for faculty preparing for promotion and tenure, and develop collaborative programs including workshops and learning communities for faculty in all stages of career development.

Personnel

Elisa M. Konieczko, Ph.D., is the faculty mentoring coordinator at Gannon University. In addition to planning mentoring activities applicable to faculty at all levels of experience, rank and tenure status, she orients new faculty to the University, and helps to prepare all faculty for their rank and tenure applications. In addition to her mentoring duties, she is a full professor in the biology department, where she teaches cadaver-based human gross anatomy lecture and lab. Her research activities include both research with local physicians and scientists and pedagogical research. She is an active member of the American Society for Cell Biology and the American Anatomy Association.

Weslene Tallmadge, PhD., is an assistant mentoring coordinator at Gannon University. In addition to working with Dr. Konieczko in planning mentoring efforts, she mentors both tenured faculty and faculty who are full professors, helping both groups achieve their professional goals. In addition to her mentoring duties, she is a full professor in the chemistry department, where she teaches general chemistry lecture and lab, physiological chemistry lecture and lab, and upper level chemistry electives. Her recent research activities include characterizing antioxidants in foods and contaminants in environmental samples. She is an active member of the American Chemical Society.

Emmett Lombard, M.A., is an assistant mentoring coordinator at Gannon University. In addition to working with Dr. Konieczko in planning mentoring activities, he mentors both tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty, helping both groups achieve their professional goals, including rank and tenure. In addition to his mentoring duties, he is a full professor of library science and is an outreach librarian at the university. He is an adjunct professor, teaching courses in a variety of campus departments. His scholarship is focused on information literacy across disciplines.

Mentoring Activities

New Faculty Orientation

All new fulltime faculty will participate in a semester long orientation process. This process begins with a two day workshop in which faculty will learn about the expectations of a Gannon University faculty member, the current learning management system, academic calendars, syllabus requirements, external and internal grant opportunities, the rank and tenure process, and other information designed to help new faculty be successful at Gannon University. The process continues with monthly meetings with the Faculty Mentoring Coordinator. During these meetings, discussions about pedagogy and other topics of interest to new faculty occur. In spring 2020, the Erie campus new faculty orientation will occur on January 2 and 3; the Ruskin campus new faculty orientation will occur on January 7 and 8.

Pedagogy Workshops

This fall, the faculty-mentoring program will be hosting a series of workshops focused on pedagogy, specifically engaging students more fully and more actively in and out of the classroom.  All workshops will be held in CBI room 300, from 1:30 to 3 pm.

University Level Service Opportunity

The Faculty Mentoring Program announces the Service in Interdisciplinary Information Literacy Library Skills (SIILLS) program. SILLS is an opportunity for university service (for the faculty peers) and for faculty development in the areas of teaching innovation (especially courses with information literacy objectives), and Boyer Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. In this program, faculty peers will provide the Nash Library and Student Learning Commons (NLSLC) disciplinary expertise by creating and/or providing resources (e.g. LibGuides; resource evaluations) and/or services (e.g. instruction) for faculty colleagues.

The following outcomes are expected:

1. improve NLSLC resources and/or services;
2. increase collaboration between colleges and NLSLC;
3. provide faculty additional service and professional development options necessary for promotion;
4. increase information literacy for students and faculty.

Writing Retreat Afternoons

Writing Afternoons. In the past, we have offered three Writing Retreats each year for faculty on the Erie Campus. Often those were held in places without Wi-Fi. We have heard from many of you that Wi-Fi is important to working on your projects. So, instead of going off campus for an entire day, we will be offering one or two Writing Afternoons per month on both the Erie and Ruskin campuses. They will be held twice a month, on Wednesday or Friday afternoons in a room with Wi-Fi (!!) on campus. Light snacks will be provided by the Mentoring Program at these events.

Peer Teaching Analysis

In an effort to assist faculty who request more individualized assistance with teaching, the Faculty Mentoring Coordinator offers the Peer Teaching Analysis Program.  This program will provide an in-depth analysis of teaching for any full-time faculty member who requests this service. It is intended to provide a longer-term observation and more detailed assistance than the current, annual peer observation process. This service does not replace the current, peer observation process that is required for annual, self-evaluations. The peer teaching analysis will consist of two announced and two unannounced classroom visits by a trained faculty member. In addition, this fall we will be including anonymous student feedback in this process. This can be done for online or on ground courses. The analysis may cover one course or multiple courses. After all of the visits have been completed, an analysis of what the observed faculty member did well and what could be improved will be discussed between the colleagues. Observed faculty members can keep this information to themselves, or they can include it in their summative self-evaluation or rank and tenure portfolios. Each trained peer teaching analysis faculty member will observe one faculty member per semester. The results of this process, and any and all communication between peer analysist and the faculty member, will not be shared by the analyst with chairs, deans, or academic vice presidents. This is for both online and on ground requests on both the Erie and Ruskin campuses. This application is for any full-time faculty member, including visiting faculty, who is requesting a Peer Teaching Analysis.

Teaching Triangles

A teaching square consists of four faculty who visit one another's classes over a two-month period and then meet as a group to discuss their observations (Haave, 2014). This allows faculty to observe different teaching styles and encourages them to try an approach that may be out of their comfort zone, after seeing its success in someone else's classroom. Teaching squares were implemented at Gannon in spring 2019, and although the feedback was positive, we have adapted the approach to be a "teaching triangle." We believe groups of three rather than four will fit well with the three-college structure at Gannon and will reduce scheduling difficulties with observing one another's classes at various times. This will be offered again in spring 2020.

Pre-Tenure Review Workshops

Tenure-track faculty in their third year will participate in a pre-tenure review on Wednesday, June3, 2020. A brief application is prepared by the faculty member and then this application is reviewed by faculty colleagues who have served on rank and tenure committees at Gannon University. This review helps to familiarize the third year faculty with the rank and tenure process, and provides feedback on their progress toward rank and tenure applications. The Faculty Mentoring Program will offer workshops on this process for third year faculty members during the spring 2020.

Rank and Tenure Workshop

On Wednesday, June 3, 2020, the University will offer a workshop for tenure-track faculty on the rank and tenure process. The Faculty Mentoring Coordinator leads this interactive workshop and provides details on both the application and the process. Also participating in this workshop are the Vice President for Academic Affairs, the three College Deans, and members of both the college and university rank and tenure committees. All tenure-track faculty are welcome to attend this workshop annually. Chairs and program directors are also encouraged to attend, so that they have the latest information to share with their tenure-track departmental colleagues.

Scholarly Presentations and Papers by the Mentoring Program

Poster Presentation: Lindley, Lori, Konieczko, Elisa M., Tallmadge, Weslene, Lombard, Emmett, and Vernaza, Karinna. (2019). Faculty Mentoring Expanded: Evaluation of the Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices. University of New Mexico Institute 2019 Mentoring Conference: Towards the Science of Mentoring. Albuquerque, NM. October 21-25, 2019. Presented on Oct. 23, 2019.

            Scholarly Paper: This work will also be published in the 12^th Annual Mentoring Conference Proceedings: Towards the Science of Mentoring. Dominguez, N., (Ed). Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico. In press.

Poster Presentation: Konieczko, Elisa M., Tallmadge, Weslene, and Lombard, Emmett. (2019). Growth and Development of a Faculty Mentoring Program. 2019 Teaching Professor Conference, June 7 - 9, 2019, New Orleans, LA. Poster session held on June 7, 2019.

Faculty Groups Mentored

• First Year Faculty
• Tenure-track Faculty
• Teaching-track Faculty
•  Teaching Faculty
• Non-tenure track Faculty
• Tenured Faculty
• Faculty who are Full Professors