Sterling College: “Mentoring for Community, Diversity, and Hospitality”
Director: Rachel Griffis

Sterling college  developed a mentoring program that would engage activities and programs to develop faculty leaders, provide opportunities for all faculty to learn about teaching in a diverse environment, and to deepen faculty’s understanding of Christian community and hospitality. We accomplished these goals by sending faculty to a CCCU conference, gathering small groups of faculty for leadership training and mentoring, and providing a training for all faculty to attend. The COVID pandemic disrupted our plans for the mentoring grant, and so some of our activities changed, due to the need for virtual programs and increased workload/stress on faculty who were expected to participate. However, all the goals of the program were met. In fall 2019, four faculty attended the “Diversity and Inclusion Conference” at George Fox University. Upon their return, they shared what they learned with Sterling College faculty at a faith and learning coffee event that same semester. In spring 2020, eight faculty members met as a small group to discuss readings on hospitality and their application to serving our students. In fall 2020, the faculty members involved in the group who met the previous spring led small group discussions over five books on diversity and 42 people participated in these small groups. We will continue this work through a regional conference, “Fostering Community and Hospitality on a Diverse Campus,” also funded by an LFP grant, that has become a requirement for all faculty. We hope that it will be an opportunity for Sterling College faculty, along with staff, administrators, and educators from other campuses, to unite around the concepts of community and hospitality.

Goshen College: “Mission in Action” 
Directors: Beth Martin Birky, Jody Saylor

Goshen College (GC) developed a one-year “Mission in Action” mentoring program to foster faculty understanding of GC’s mission as a Christian liberal arts institution shaped by Anabaptist Mennonite tradition. GC’s mentoring program paired 11 new faculty with mid-career mentors in order to help new faculty understand GC’s unique culture and core values, build strong connections to campus, consider their professional development at GC, enhance faculty retention, and strengthen their pedagogy, and to engage mid-career faculty mentors in the integration of GC’s mission with their own faith and with inclusive teaching strategies for increased student success. All participants met monthly for group seminars that included reading, structured input, discussion, application, and reflection. In fall 2020, group seminars included presentations on GC’s mission and the college’s Anabaptist context, its global education program, and the GC Core. A faculty panel addressed faith and teaching. In the spring, group workshops gave faculty time to practice valuable pedagogical skills: establishing trust, active listening, goal setting, reflective observation/interaction, productive feedback and revision. At the end of each semester, participants wrote personal statement on the GC mission and core values and their teaching. Although COVID-19 impacted new faculty’s campus experience, participants were empowered to translate GC’s mission into effective, student-centered teaching and learning. By implementing and testing effective teaching strategies, faculty articulated their own mission-centered professional goals. Due to this year’s success, the 2021-2022 “Mission in Action” mentoring program will include new administrative faculty and mentors. We anticipate that the “Mission in Action” mentoring program will increase faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship in the context of Christian higher education.

St. Mary's University Texas: "New Faculty Mentor for Mission Program"
Director: Alicia Tait

The New Faculty Mentor for Mission Program revolved around the Catholic Marianist mission of the institution. Each event centered around the connection between our Marianist Educational Characteristics and the pillars of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition (CIT). The five Engaging the Mission Conversations EMCs) were titled after the five Marianist Educational Characteristics (MECs). Each EMC session included pre-readings and reflective questions. EMC speakers were asked to present, from their own experiences, how they engaged the MEC and CIT pillar. The final retreat connected the vocation of teaching at a Catholic Marinist institution as well as the particulars of HSI and the influence of the Hispanic community on the Church in San Antonio and globally, the latter of which although not entirely unique to St. Mary’s is significant to understanding our student body. This program was developed to support the needs of faculty and introduce them very intentionally to the distinction of working at a Catholic university reflective of the Marianist charism and to build mentorship into a yearlong orientation program for faculty.