Faculty Mentoring Seminar 2005 - Part 4

(Dr. Bill Weber). I think you summarized it. (Dr. Pearson). I think that's another one, service, how much service do we give? (male speaker). Well, talk about shared governance, I'm not sure if maybe that's on here, but that's part of the whole business also of shared governance. (Dr. Pearson). Okay, very good. (female speaker). Mildred, I have a question. Are these, are all of the mentees new faculty, or are some of them second or third year, and how did you acquire the list? (Dr. Pearson). Okay, I acquired the list from--most of these are new, some are transitioning from a Unit B into a Unit A slot. (female speaker). Okay, that makes sense. (Dr. Pearson). So they're not, quote, new to Eastern, but new into a Unit A position. Does that make sense? (female speaker). Yes. (Dr. Hank Davis). I don't see very much on here about helping them acculturate into the community. (Dr. Pearson). Yeah, good. (Dr. Davis). I mean, where do you take your dog when you want to go out of town? I mean, just little things like that, where do you take your car to get it worked on? I think there's some socialization, maybe you get that just informally from people in your college, but being able to take care of that part of your life frees up a lot more for work. (Dr. Pearson). And that is why your role is going to be critical. Just what they need. Like, I think somebody wanted a babysitter, I heard. (Dr. Bailey Young). I would add airports. (Dr. Pearson). So we need to compile a list and the mentees will probably ask or address those kinds of questions. Yeah, airport, so I don't know, this list can really get long on the community, but I'll keep it general and say community services like airports, babysitters, animal care. (Dr. Eberly). There's nothing on this, and I'm certainly not prepared to do it, but I'm thinking about the special needs of faculty that are from other countries and do not hold US citizenship. (Dr. Pearson). Yes, we are addressing that as we speak. International Study Abroad, we're trying to add a piece to that for next year. We have added it to our calender on February 24th, but you're right, there is a great need right now. (Dr. Eberly). I'm thinking about all the visa applications, and I'm thinking about the fact that there are spouses, many who cannot work, because they don't have the right kind of visa. And what does it take to do that? (Dr. Lisowski). I think they have to have that all cleared before they get hired. (Dr. Eberly). That would be nice. (Dr. Lisowski). That's what I thought, because we had that problem in our department, they had to have that all cleared before we could hire them. (Dr. Ronan Bernas). There are always on-going issues, I went through that myself. I came in here on a work visa, but then I had to apply for US permanent residency, and that takes a couple of years. There are many issues involving that every year. (Dr. Lisowski). And it's changing with that Patriot Act, too, isn't it? (Dr. Bernas). Yeah, there are lots of changes through that, but it took six years before I got it, so there were lots of issues involving that. (Dr. Pearson). So when you said ongoing, now you meant, my mind is running. So how often should we--? (Dr. Bernas). There are many, we go through different sort of, like, I started with a working visa status, and after that, I applied for the green card, and once I get it, I'm on a completely different status. So the immigration status changes for each of those stages, there are different issues involved in those. (Dr. Pearson). The reason why I'm concerned is because we did have a large number, and that is going to affect our faculty, and that's a very good point. (Dr. Bernas). One example would be, they would probably be looking for an immigration lawyer, and where to find that. (Dr. Eberly). And if a faculty person comes in, their spouse cannot take courses. (Dr. Bernas). Yeah, there are many rules and regulations concerning what their spouses can do. (Dr. Eberly). And that is a real limitation. (Dr. Bernas). Whether they can work, whether they can study, things like that. (Dr. Assege Haile Mariam). I think the most important one is what the university can get a person who is not a general in that area as other universities do. Because our concept, as far as the law is concerned, the law is the law. But a person who knows that, to walk the people through the process, that is, I think, important. (Dr. Pearson). Very good. Norman Greer. (Dr. Greer). I think that new faculty and all faculty should have an awareness of cultural diversity in the classroom, or lack thereof. Actually, when I first came here, I was teaching an intercultural communication class, and the first thing you do is find out how many people are from what continent. And here, often, at Eastern, you say how many people are from the US. Everyone. Well, how many of you are from Illinois? Everyone. Okay, how many of you are from the greater Chicago area? Everyone. Okay, how many of you are siblings? Okay, good, at least you're not all siblings, now we can begin. [group laughter]. Starting cultural awareness, that's a real issue on campus. And for some faculty, it is problematic for students, and it often can be problematic for faculty as well if they're not consciously aware of the diversity of the student population. (Dr. Pearson). Very good. (Dr. Greer). Because, like, for example, we had some football players who came from Florida. And in Florida they have rites of passage and particular behavior, and everyone was a little nervous, like, are these guys okay? Yeah, they're okay, it's just they're from Florida, so there may be a little Haitian influence there. (Dr. Pearson). Sure. (Dr. Greer). And those are some of the realities we have to deal with as faculty. (Dr. Pearson). And we're going to have some more workshops on these kinds of topics, as we all know that we just need it. Our campus at large, we need it. If we can just make a transition quickly, there is a form--I wear no-line bifocals, and so you may not know that, I really need them for this small print. But we can also send this to you if necessary electronically, but your mentee and if your name is not on there, which we've already recognized one omission, we are going to just kind of modify this. Like I said, this is still being tweaked, even today, but if you can just find your name and your mentee, or mentees, and what department, perhaps. We tried really hard to stay within the same college, at times that became vey very difficult. (Dr. Haile Mariam). Let me get this right. When you read name, when you find your name, and there is an empty space, that person is also yours? (Dr. Pearson). Yes. (male speaker). Above or below? (Dr. Haile Mariam). Below. (Dr. Pearson). Okay, yes, for example, the last name, go to--. (Dr. Haile Mariam). I did, so Deerman and Durr are both mine then, that is how I should read it? (Dr. Pearson). Yes. Can you find your name? Deerman, yes, that is the way Billie did. So she would not have to copy and paste your name twice, Assege. For example, someone made mention of a Unit B faculty, now is a Unit A, would be Joy Russel, who just completed her first three chapters and submitted them, and defended her first three chapters. So she needed someone to proof, and for her APA, and all that good stuff. So I was, like, okay. So then Tom Grissom, who is working on his doctorate, and we have some others who are just surfacing saying they would like to have a mentor. So that is why we are putting out now a call because we are really needing some of the assistant professors to step up to the plate and help with some of our Unit B faculty. We have April Flood in our department, we have Dan Carter. Some I know, but like I said, we're trying to stay without matching people in the same department, which is really healthy, I think. Yes? (Dr. Delman). I want to make sure we have it straight, because there is somebody on the top [unclear audio] who has a blank right after her name. Does that mean she hasn't been assigned anyone? (Dr. Pearson). She has not been assigned, she has not been assigned. (Dr. Delman). Okay, so basically, only if you have a blank below. (Dr. Pearson). Only if you have a blank below. And Daneen, we'll talk about that, she will have been assigned, but that was a change we had to make.