FACULTY MENTORING

Mentoring Effort Provides Collegial Support for Faculty

It is well documented that appropriate mentoring and support can significantly shorten the professional learning curve. The Center for ADVANCing Faculty Success Faculty (CAFS) Mentoring Program provides robust support for full-time faculty as they begin their professional journeys at UNC Charlotte, and advance in their academic careers. The mentoring initiatives provided by CAFS include one-to-one and/or group support for new faculty. New Faculty are matched with a mentor outside of their home departments to forge connections across UNC Charlotte, and to allow new faculty to gain different perspectives. These university-wide efforts augment, but are not a replacement for, the mentoring and coaching provided within faculty’s home colleges and departments. Mentoring is also available for mid-career faculty. The goal of this programming is to provide associate professors with important insights into strategies to engage in proactive, intentional career planning for promotion to full professor.

One of our 2025 – 2026 Mentor/Mentee pairs: Daniel Alston and Braveheart Gillani

Braveheart: Connecting with Daniel as my faculty mentor has truly been one of the brightest highlights of my first year at UNC-Charlotte. I’m so grateful for the care and thoughtfulness the team put into making that introduction. The warm hand off meant more than I can express, and it set the tone for everything that followed. Daniel has been an extraordinary source of wisdom, knowledge, and perspective, and his guidance has opened doors for me into the larger college community that I never could have found on my own. What moves me most, though, is simply who he is as a person. He shows up genuinely, consistently, and with his whole heart. Every conversation leaves me feeling seen, encouraged, and reminded of why I chose this path.

In a season of life full of new beginnings and uncertainty, Daniel has become an anchor, a mentor, and a beloved friend.

Daniel: This was my first time signing up to be a mentor and I cannot say enough positive things about this experience. There was so much intentionality in the matching process. From the moment Braveheart and I met, it was clear the leadership spent a lot of time considering our pairing. The soul-connection was legit and since that day, our connection and friendship have deepened. Our connection and the deepening of this connection was the result of an ethic of reciprocity that Braveheart and I leaned into from the get go. We consistently disrupted typical hierarchical dynamics which define traditional mentor/mentee interactions and this led to both of us growing and feeling supported. Braveheart is a light and I am honored that I have been able to bask in that light and support him as he shines that light on his students, colleagues, and the community at large. I am so grateful that I decided to engage in the Mentor/Mentee Program because time with Braveheart throughout this year ended up being one of the highlights I looked forward to each month.

Resources for Mentees and Mentors

Click here for a New Faculty Individual Development Plan

Click here for a Mid-Career Individual Development Plan

Authorship

Because authorship is one of the main forms of currency in academia, decisions about who is named an author, and in what order, can be challenging to navigate even among successful collaborations. To help in this area, the Graduate School has led the development of University Policy: 318, Authorship Policy and Resolution Procedures. View a brief introduction to the policy by Provost Joan Lorden.