The Medical College of Wisconsin has traditionally had a strong focus on the development and vitality of its faculty. This website reviews the etiology of the mentor program from in-person monthly sessions to today's current on-line approach of developing your CV and Educator's Portfolio. The evidence regarding the importance of a sustained colleague network, including a senior expereinced colleague/mentor, is clear: Faculty who have a strong network of colleagues are more productive academically and are more satisfied with their academic careers.
In the mid 1990's the Divisions of General Pediatrics and General Internal Medicine added a formal mentor program with a senior colleague assigned to a junior faculty member. Then beginning in 1991, the Department of Family and Community Medicine began a formal mentor program as part of a larger faculty development initiative.
The initial mentoring programs at MCW focused on three critical skills identified by Carole Bland and colleagues:
In 1996/97 MCW initiated a college-wide pilot program with MCW's Society of Teaching Scholars (STS) and the Women's Faculty Council (WFC) as co-sponsors with the Offices of Educational Services and Faculty Affairs. Following the pilot, the full implementation of the program began in the 1999-2000 academic year for faculty with less than two years in rank at MCW.
Consistent with the pilot program, the MCW Junior Faculty Mentor Program focused on these same three objectives for professional academic skills/socialization.
Since the program began, it has shifted from monthly to quarterly sessions in an attempt to minimize disruption to participants' service obligations. However, sustained attendance by junior faculty and their departmentally assigned mentors has been problematic. In spite of this limitation, program participants have strongly recommended we continue the program but recommended an alternative delivery method. In response to these recommendations, the 2002-2003 Junior Faculty Mentor Program transitioned from face-to-face sessions to a web-based program accessible to assigned mentors and junior faculty on 24/7 basis.
As scheduling times for meeting face-to-face continued to remain an issue, the program is currently transitioning to this website (with an upcoming manual on CV development) that will include specific information on how to choose a mentor, tips on writing your personal mission statement (PMS), promotion, and CV development.