Mentoring Program

At the Visual Communication Division business meeting during the 2007 AEJMC summer conference, the members decided that a mentoring program be established on the division Web site. The primary purpose of the program is for graduate students in the division to easily get help from faculty with similar research interests and for junior faculty members to easily get help from senior faculty in terms of research, teaching, tenure, and serving the profession on the national and international levels. A byproduct of the program is that it will help faculty from different universities to find other faculty who share research and teaching interests so that faculty can form research/teaching partnerships.

How the Mentoring Program Works

Any current Visual Communication Division members can use the Mentoring Program database to locate and establish a mentoring relationship. A member can go to the Mentor Listings to pick a professor who the member feels can offer the best one-on-one instruction and tutelage and contact the professor to start a mentoring relationship.

A mentor can be any faculty member who is a Visual Communication Division member and who is willing to devote his/her time to mentor a graduate student or a junior faculty member from another university. A mentor does not have to be a senior faculty. A mentor should be someone interested in furthering his/her own personal development through the education of others. A senior faculty member is defined as a tenured or un-tenured senior lecturer, associate professor, full professor, or equivalent. A junior faculty member is defined as a teaching assistant, lecturer, assistant professor or equivalent. If you are interested in sharing your knowledge, please fill out the database information form to become a mentor.

Although non-members can view the Mentor listing, only members can access the full information under each name.

Here are some guidelines for participating in the Mentoring Program:
1. A mentorship is established on a voluntary basis and availability basis.
2. Mentoring associates may change mentors at any time or may have more than one mentor. Mentors may accept as many associates as they feel they have time for.
3. Either participating party can end a mentorship at any time.
4. The mentoring associate should expect an honest assessment of his/her work, including both positive and negative feedback.
5. The mentoring associate and mentor may contact each other by phone, e-mail, or letter in regards to specific professional questions or advice.
6. A mentorship is not geographically limited. A mentor can be chosen from any area of the globe.

What not to expect from the mentoring program:
The mentoring program is not an avenue for employment possibilities.