Key points:
- Supporting new diverse faculty members helps promote diversity among enrolled students
- Faculty mentorship and inclusivity are two paths to supporting and expanding campus diversity
- See related article: How department chairs can support new faculty
Diversity is essential to a thriving college campus. Nearly all schools, from pre-schools through graduate and professional schools, are currently working to ensure a strong diverse workforce. Diversity brings in varied perspectives, ideas, and experiences that can enrich the learning environment for all students. However, new diverse faculty members may face unique challenges that can make it difficult for them to succeed. These challenges can include feeling isolated, unsure of where to go for support, and being excluded from important conversations and decision-making processes.
Colleges and universities have a responsibility to support new diverse faculty members and help them thrive. This can be done by providing mentorship, creating inclusive spaces, and guiding and promoting their work.
One of the first keys is to ensure all new faculty have a mentor from within their department to make sure they understand departmental and college expectations, due dates for professional development requirements, how to order textbooks, etc. Preferably, this is someone who has taught a similar course load to the new faculty member’s assignment.
Beyond the departmental mentor, diverse faculty members should be assigned a seasoned mentor who matches their demographic diversity, if possible, and potentially from another area of the college and definitely someone from outside their own area. This will provide diverse faculty members with a supportive space to discuss personal and professional issues in a nonjudgmental, supportive space that allows for vulnerability. These faculty members may face several assaults on their personal and professional psyche in higher education, especially if they are one of the only faculty of color in a department.
Nicholas Wysocki is a professor in the Education Studies Department at Winona State University. He leads the Multicultural Education Certificate Program (MCEP) as well as teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Dr. Steve Baule is a faculty member at Winona State University (WSU), where he teaches in the Leadership Education Department. Prior to joining WSU, Baule spent 28 years in K-12 school systems in Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa, and two years teaching in the University of Wisconsin System. For the 13 years prior to moving to the university level, Baule served as a public -school superintendent. He has written 10 books on a variety of educational and historical topics and has served on the editorial boards for two journals. Baule earned an advanced diversity and equity certificate while in the UW system. He holds a doctorate in instructional technology from Northern Illinois University and a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies from Loyola University Chicago.
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