Description and Guidelines
Mentoring Programs have been among the most popular and successful of all LFP initiatives. Mentoring Programs provide funds to nurture faculty at all stages of their careers at Network institutions and strengthen the commitment of faculty to institutional mission. Well-constructed mentoring programs encourage faculty ranging from new hires to junior, mid-career, and veteran faculty to understand and share the ethos of the school, to grow to love the questions that the institution holds dear, and to consider the importance of fundamental matters concerning the relationship between higher learning and the Christian faith. Such programs also seek to renew and deepen the commitment of the whole institution and its leaders to those central intellectual and spiritual matters. Applications are due on September 15 of each year.
To learn more about Mentoring Programs and to submit an application, please click here.
Current Mentoring Programs
At its Fall, 2017 meeting, the Lilly National Network Board awarded Mentoring Program grants to Belmont University in Nashville, TN, for "Mentoring to Strengthen Multicultural Christian Education" and to Saint Louis University for "Mentoring Faculty for a New, Interdisciplinary, Mission-Driven Core"
Most Recent Mentoring Programs
At its 2014 fall meeting, the LFP National Network Board awarded funding to the following school to host Mentoring Program on its campuses for the 2015-2016 academic year:
Aquinas University: "Teaching and Research Partnerships"
Director: Kathy S. Kremer
Aquinas College has historically conducted a traditional mentoring program for its non-tenured faculty, with senior and mid-career faculty mentoring new hires. The LFP funding granted to Aquinas College was designed to: (1) support quality teaching and advising with mentoring for twelve first and second-year faculty members; (2) provide continued mentoring and scholarship support for four second to fifth-year faculty members partnered with mid-career faculty on a research project; (3) increase faculty scholarship among mid-career faculty by providing support to four associate professors eligible for promotion to full professor for their partnerships with junior faculty members who have active research initiatives; and (5) support the transition of five to ten recently retired emeriti faculty while utilizing their teaching and advising expertise in mentor partnerships. The format for implementing these program goals consisted of faculty teaching partnerships (where faculty members in their first year are paired with retired faculty emeriti) and faculty research partnerships (where faculty members in their second to fifth year are paired with tenured associate professors).
