New Faculty Interest Network (NFIN)

Assistant-Associate Professor Mentoring Program

Modeled after the highly successful doctoral candidate-Assistant Professor mentoring program, the NFIN recently began an Assistant -Associate mentoring program, currently coordinated by Kristopher M. Goodrich (KMGoodrich@saumag.edu).
The purpose of the new Assistant-Associate mentoring program is to provide support for pre-tenured faculty in obtaining information, sharing and processing their experiences, and receiving instrumental and relational guidance as they begin their counselor education career and move toward tenure.  

The NFIN aims to meet these objectives by pairing pre-tenured faculty with an Associate professor who has recently received tenure. Although the NFIN does remove senior faculty from the listserv when they receive tenure in order to keep the NFIN a pre-tenured listserv, many counselor educators who have benefited from the doctoral candidate-Assistant Professor mentoring program want to give back to those just beginning their career.
If you are interested in more information about the NFIN Assistant-Associate mentoring program or would like to sign up as either a mentor or mentee, please email me at KMGoodrich@saumag.edu.

*****************************************************************************

An ACES interest network was developed in 2005 titled the "New Faculty Interest Network" (NFIN). Since this time we have several hundred doctoral candidates and new counselor educators (pre-tenured) on the NFIN listserv. This network is designed to provide support, mentoring, networking, and other connections to new counselor educators (untenured and/or not promoted) and doctoral candidates thinking about becoming counselor educators. NFIN has a listserv. To join the listserv please send an email message to kerry.sebera@uc.edu and in the body of the email message, please provide your name, email address, and current rank (e.g., doctoral candidate, new faculty member). If you have any questions about the interest network, please feel free to contact the co- chairs of the interest network:

Kerry Sebera kerry.sebera@uc.edu

Melissa Luke mmluke@syr.edu

Below you will find a rationale and current objectives of NFIN to provide you a better idea of the interest network. We look forward to hearing from those of you that are interested, and looking forward to meeting you at future conferences! Please pass this email and information along to individuals who might be eligible and interested!   

Rationale: Pre-tenured faculty members and doctoral candidates encounter unique challenges as they matriculate into academia. These challenges can include multiple demands, time constraints, balancing one's personal and professional life, isolation, unrealistic expectations, lack of mentorship, and insufficient feedback or recognition. A new counselor educator is expected to "hit the ground running" regardless if the adjustment is as a first year faculty member fresh out of graduate school or relocating to a new university. "Hitting the ground running" is combined with the challenge of adjusting to organizational climate, culture, and expectations. A new counselor educator needs to define their new role, and navigate through the politics of academia, along with a full course load to prepare for, research agenda to embark on, and become involved with organizations and committees.  With the variety of significant tasks and responsibilities, along with adjusting and identifying one's role, a pre-tenured faculty member needs to learn to prioritize and manage time effectively while balancing multiple demands. Support systems, networks, and mentoring can be helpful ways to smooth the navigation, role transition, and balancing of multiple demands for pre-tenured faculty.    

Eligible members: Pre-tenured counselor educators; doctoral candidates  

Objectives:

Provide a forum for mentoring, networking, and social support for pre-tenured faculty in the following areas:

Teaching
Research
Service
Adjusting to organizational climate and role expectations
Provide support for pre-tenured faculty as they acclimate into academia, and doctoral candidates as they begin to think about the process of becoming an academician, in terms of:
Role expectations
Navigation through systems in academia
Time management
Balancing multiple demands
Provide a proactive forum to discuss and generate creative solutions to the difficulties that may arise for pre-tenured faculty in the adjustment and role definitions
Educate and solidify pre-tenured counselor educators professional identity
Recruitment and retention of capable counselor educators in the counseling profession through support, networking, and mentoring.