January 2020
AAN NEWS & NETWORKING
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This month in the Academic Advancement Network’s Newsletter, we are highlighting mentoring opportunities. Participating in mentoring relationships—whether as mentor or mentee—is a meaningful part of academic life. This newsletter is filled with examples of fruitful mentoring relationships, resources, and opportunities to enhance your own mentoring experiences. We hope you will take a moment to peruse this information and select those resources that will help you in your work.

Best wishes,


Ann Austin
Interim Associate Provost for Faculty and Academic Staff Development
Making an Impact
Beronda Montgomery
 January is National Mentoring Month
By: Beronda Montgomery
January is National Mentoring Month, and thus an excellent time to reflect on mentoring – both the mentoring you need and the mentoring you’ll offer. This month’s focus on mentoring also offers an opportunity for us to focus on mentoring not only as individuals, but to assess how our communities (including collaborative groups, units, departments, colleges and beyond) can cultivate mentoring cultures and the leadership needed...

Interview with Cynthia Jackson-Elmoore:
AAN Leadership Fellows mentor
Cynthia
Jackson-Elmoore
AAN Leadership Fellow Mentor
" Participation as a mentor and leader with the AAN Leadership Fellows Program has provided me with an opportunity to remind our colleagues to celebrate the leadership potential in everyone," wrote Jackson-Elmoore.

Cynthia Jackson-Elmoore is the dean and professor in the Honors College at MSU. As a mentor for the AAN Leadership Fellows program, Cynthia appreciates the opportunity to encourage the celebration of leadership potential in everyone, mentor or otherwise.

Learning through Collaboration & Connection
The Necessity of a Mentoring Program for Fixed-Term Faculty and Academic Specialists
By: Sonja Fritzsche
Fixed-term faculty and academic staff often do not have the same access to a means of socialization into academic life as tenure-stream faculty. Some fixed-term faculty can feel isolated in their specific duties and have fewer opportunities to network than tenure-stream faculty . The perceived temporary nature of these appointments by unit administrators often leads departments to invest less and offer fewer privileges to people in such positions. In reality, units should be doing the opposite for multiple reasons.

Thriving at Michigan State University

Each February, the Academic Advancement Network, in collaboration with Academic Human Resources, hosts their annual series of “Thriving at Michigan State University” workshops . These sessions provide faculty and academic specialists with important information and strategies on how to be successful in their careers at our institution. The content of each workshop is specifically tailored for the specific needs of those in each appointment type.

Upcoming Events
SAVE the DATE

May 4-7, 2020
This is a conference of MSU educators that showcases innovative teaching ideas and fosters a dynamic community of all who enhance the experiences of students, faculty, and staff. The goal of the meeting is to create a shared space for conversation about educational practices that lead to student success.
  • Call for proposals will go out in February
  • Registration opens in March
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Community-Engaged Scholarship
Write-Ins
Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center,
Room 93 (Garden Level)
January 10, February 7, March 13 and April 3: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m
On the first Friday of each month, University Outreach and Engagement will hold time for dedicated writing to advance community-engaged scholarship.

Conversation with Interim Provost Teresa Sullivan and Executive Vice President for Health Sciences Norman Beauchamp
Kellogg Center, Room Big Ten A
January 24: 8:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Registration is now available for the upcoming Spring 2020 Conversation with Interim Provost Teresa A. Sullivan. This event will also feature Executive Vice President for Health Sciences Norman Beauchamp. President Stanley will not be hosting a Conversation this spring, however an additional Conversation will be added later this spring to focus on the strategic planning process.

Thriving in the Tenure System I: Articulating Your Scholarly Identity Through a Strong Reappointment, Promotion, and Tenure Packet
Henry Center for Executive Development, Room B106/107
February 4: 8:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
This annual workshop is designed to provide guidance to assistant professors in navigating the tenure system at Michigan State University .  

Thriving as an Academic Specialist at Michigan State University
University Club of MSU, Heritage Room
February 11: 8:00 a.m. - 12:30 p. m.
The session is designed specifically for academic specialists to provide guidance in navigating the academic specialist system at MSU.

Thriving as a Fixed-Term Faculty Member at Michigan State University
University Club of MSU, Heritage Room
February 18: 8:00 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.
This program is designed specifically for fixed-term faculty members to provide important information and strategies about being successful in their careers and their roles at Michigan State University.

Deadlines
Big Ten Academic Alliance Leadership Program (ALP)
MSU yearlong program that provides intensive leadership
and managerial development, addressing the challenges of academic administration at major research universities .

Faculty Emeriti Association Awards Nominations
The MSU Faculty Emeriti Association promotes, facilitates and sponsors activities that enable faculty emeriti to be actively engaged with the University and the community and to share their lifetime of experience and expertise.

AAN Leadership Fellows
MSU yearlong program that creates partnerships between mentors (current administrators) and fellows (faculty at least five-years post-tenure). This program involves both a shadowing experience and work on a project developed jointly between the mentor and fellow.

Resources
Provides information on how to utilize mentorship in a way that unleashes one's potential for discovery, curiosity, and participation in STEMM and subsequently improving the training environment in which that STEMM potential is fostered. 
This comprehensive NASEM report was released late in 2019 together with a very useful interactive online guide.
The Graduate School at Michigan State University is committed to collaborating with important on- and off-campus partners to increase MSU's capacity for research excellence in mentoring for and by graduate students. Graduate students exist within an educational ecosystem whereby undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, and faculty engage with each other to produce high quality scholarship, research, and creative works.
While the tips, tools and insights about mentoring have meaning and are certainly needed year round, this month’s national focus on mentoring offers a wealth of opportunities to improve our access, knowledge, and utilization for supporting our own personal and professional growth, as well as those individuals we have privilege to mentor.
The National Research Mentoring Network exists to implement and disseminate innovative, evidence-based best practices to improve mentoring relationships at institutions across the country.
Effective research mentoring relationships are critical to developing the next generation of researchers. Learn how to improve these relationships at all career stages and promote cultural change that values excellence in research mentoring as a critical aspect of diversifying the research workforce.
Each February, the Academic Advancement Network in collaboration with Academic Human Resources host their annual series of “Thriving at Michigan State University” workshops. These sessions provide faculty and academic specialists with important information and strategies on how to be successful in their careers at our institution. The content of each workshop is specifically tailored for the specific needs of those in each appointment type.
This series of pages on mentoring is designed to provide ideas and resources related to mentoring, particularly for faculty and academic staff. It is critical that each of these individuals on our campus has access to the information and support they need to be successful.
The NCFDD is an independent professional development, training, and mentoring community for faculty members, academic staff, postdocs, and graduate students. MSU’s institutional membership with NCFDD opens up many online resources for all academics at the University. Once you login to the NCFDD site, search for “Mentoring” to find a variety of resources on general mentoring topics including “Re-Thinking Mentoring: How to Build Communities of Inclusion, Support and Accountability”. You can also review their library of videos and articles on topics related to mentoring at different career stages.
The International Newcomer Matching Program can help the transition for MSU faculty, staff, post-docs, and academic specialists when they are moving to the community from a different country. Volunteers from the MSU community will be matched with a newcomer to help the new family ease into their new life within the surrounding community. 
Impacts shared about another educator
via #iteachmsu Thank an Educator:
Thank you to:
Kate Sonka
Assistant Director of Academic Technology College of   Arts & Letters  

Honored in 2019-20



"Kate supports education at all levels. She takes students on study away programs to teach them about accessibility, and in doing so, teaches them how to be better advocates for users. Whether it is developing a class that introduces accessibility to students in the humanities or planning a study abroad to Europe that explores international accessibility and sustainability, Kate is an inspiration to all educators as we strive to create more inclusive and accessible learning environments for students."
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Academic Advancement Network
Phone: (517) 432-1185
Email: aan@msu.edu
Website: aan.msu.edu
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