Mentorship is a Friendship Plus

Kristin Stoner, an associate chair for term faculty in the Department of English, takes on the role of mentor for many term faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Unlike tenured faculty, who are expected to produce research and mentor graduate students, term faculty have primary responsibilities for undergraduate teaching. Stoner insists on the importance of this mentorship program because many term faculty may be in the beginning stages of their career in academia. A mentor instills confidence, provides guidance, and lends an ear. Stoner and her fellow mentors work tirelessly to build a solid foundation for their mentees. She sees this foundation as comprising two parts: experience and humility.

Stoner admits, “You know, weirdly enough, I walked into [mentorship] going, I really don’t know what this means. What is it you want me to do? What are my action items here? What does this look like?” The beginning stages of Stoner’s role as a mentor were riddled with questions concerning the mentees’ needs, logistics of large group activities, and overall goals of such a partnership. Often, mentors are tasked with gathering their mentees for group events. These gatherings instill community among the term faculty and provide them space to address concerns. Stoner reveals, “We planned this lunch, and I think out of—and, I mean, in LAS, we’re talking hundreds of faculty—we had 10 people show up.” This moment was initially disheartening for Stoner and her fellow mentors. With anxiety beginning to creep in, Stoner realized that this would be one of many learning lessons associated with her newfound leadership role. But “at the same time,” Stoner asks herself, “Did we really fail? Ten people came, and we had an amazing conversation. Why did I view that as a failure?” She admits that hiccups like these cannot be deemed as failures but should instead be viewed as progress toward creating a mentorship community.

Another large learning curve for Stoner was determining what her mentees truly needed. “A mentor isn’t a top-down experience,” she elaborated. “It’s a conversation.” Stoner expresses the benefit of digging deep when coaching a mentee. She prioritizes “questions about who they are, what they enjoy, and what brought them to Iowa State. What are they thinking about today?” Stoner compares mentorship to a friendship. Mentees must be met where they are—not where they could be in five years. Asking such personal questions reveals the mentee’s habits, passions, and goals. Stoner admits, “If I’m talking more than the mentee, I’m probably doing something wrong.” Moreover, communication and curiosity are vital elements that Stoner fosters for her mentees. As she says, “Teaching is so dependent on collaboration. A lot of us are coming out of master’s programs and PhD programs, where you feel like, Oh, I have to be the smartest person in the room, therefore I can’t ask a question. That’s where that mentorship meets that need.” There is a delicate balance between a perceived want and an actual need for a mentee. Stoner finds herself constantly negotiating that balance.

During this ongoing process of discovery, Stoner has relied on fellow faculty mentors in other departments for sound advice. She recognizes that one significant “value of peer mentoring, especially at the college level, is getting to know other peer mentors from the other departments.” As she explains, “It was a real eye-opener how all of our departments are so different and especially how different it is for term faculty experience within those departments.” An exciting aspect of mentorship for Stoner is the cross-communication. The ability to mix different thought processes and analyses has widened Stoner’s breadth of innovative problem-solving. She noted, “They’re different in the type of faculty and staff they have. They’re different in their policies and procedures and the day-to-day way they work.” These diverse backgrounds promote a spirit of inclusivity in the actions taken to conquer hurdles. The combination of multiple perspectives allows the mentors to provide their mentees with genuine encouragement as well as healthy challenges.