Research Linx Summer - Fall 2023
Deadline for Mentee Applications: May 12, 2023 at 11:59 PM
Research Linx is an Interdisciplinary Tenured to Pre-tenured Faculty Mentoring Program. Sponsored by the Academic Research and the NIH grant CSUSB ASPIRE, the goal of this program is to support pre-tenured faculty on their research journey to tenure.
The Research Linx program is designed to support junior faculty in advancing their research and/or creative activity agenda with the ultimate intent of creating a research development, external funding, and/or publication plan for the next stage of their career.
To Apply:
Please, send by midnight of May 12, 2023, a Word document to Dr. Ryan Keating (RKeating@csusb.edu) with the following information:
- Name
- Department
- A brief statement explaining your broad goals as a participant in the Research Linx program
- A current CV
The overarching goal of the Research Linx program is to support faculty – both mentees and mentors – in their academic, professional, and personal growth.
Creating an interdepartmental support network focusing on faculty development is designed to fulfill multiple needs not currently available on our campus.
- Leverage the expertise of senior faculty to support junior faculty members as they develop their research agendas and apply for external funding.
- Support junior faculty as they develop their post-doctoral research agenda.
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Cultivate a collaborative campus environment with a focus on research development and interdisciplinary workspaces that can ultimately contribute to the intellectual life on campus.
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Provide support networks for faculty outside of their immediate department to allow for advancement of research agendas and share ideas and thoughts that otherwise may be downplayed out of concern for retention, promotion, and tenure.
The impetus for the interdisciplinary nature of Research Linx is based on the following findings: "The formation of a mentoring dyad or groups among faculty members from different departments, or inter-departmental or multi-disciplinary mentoring, at times can be more successful than mentoring dyads within departments, according to Wasburn and LaLopa (2003). Boice (1992) suggested mentoring works best through inter-departmental pairings because protégés feel more comfortable expressing concerns and weaknesses and asking questions than they do within their own department. Boice (1992) argued that mentoring is much more about relationships than about providing help in teaching or research in a specific discipline. Non- departmental mentors also can provide objective perspectives not influenced by departmental issues and politics and facilitate networking through meetings on campus with a diversity of faculty."In Lumpkin (2011) "A model for Mentoring University Faculty" available: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.832.5012&rep=rep1&type= pdf.
Studies show that mentors serve in a host of roles, though traditionally fit into two complementary categories: “technical or instrumental career functions” and “psychosocial or expressive career functions” (Zellers et al., 2008; Chao, Waltz, & Gardner, 1992; Ibarra, 1993; Mott, 2002).
Columbia University’s Guide to Best Practices in Faculty Mentoring (https://provost.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/content/MentoringBestPractices.pdf) delineates, more clearly, those roles as they pertain to the actual act of mentoring:
Technical or Instrumental Career Functions
- Advisor for overall professional goals and career choices
- Advisor for the development of academic scholarship
- Facilitator of professional networking within and outside of the institution
- Sponsor who provides specific strategic opportunities with career relevance
- Advisor for the development of teaching skills
Psychosocial or Expressive Career Functions
- Promoter of scholarly values and professional integrity
- Advocate
- Role model
- Coach
- Intellectual challenger
- Colleague
- Supporter
The implementation of an interdisciplinary faculty mentorship at CSUSB, supported by the Office of Academic Research, and the NIH grant CSUSB ASPIRE, is designed to contribute to the development of faculty, creation of an institutional-wide support and training network, and model, on our campus, initiatives currently being undertaken at larger R1 universities to promote and support faculty research, grant activity, and publication at the highest level.
The Research Linx program will recruit faculty members who are interested in: a) mentoring pre- tenured faculty, b) deepening their mentoring skills c) mentoring faculty from outside of their disciplines, d) advancing mentee’s research/creative activities agenda, e) working collaboratively with the Office of Research Development to assist mentees in securing resources and funding for research.
As a Faculty Mentees You:
- Will participate in the mentor/mentee mixer
- Share with the mentor their research development goals
- Will work with the mentor to develop broad goals for the mentorship period
- Will participate in relevant workshops to complement their mentorship (research planning, research development, grant writing, etc.)
- Agree to have their names and campus contact publicized as members of the Research Linx program
- Will complete a short pre- and post-evaluation survey
The Office of Academic Research will promote a healthy and productive work environment between mentors and mentees. Questions about Research Linx program coordinator, Dr. Ryan Keating at RKeating@csusb.edu.