IU Faculty and Staff

Faculty Mentors

Faculty are an excellent source of knowledge and experience. Formal mentoring programs provide venues for students to forge ties with faculty which will foster their academic success. A mentor relationship can strengthen identities and increase student satisfaction with their undergraduate experience.  Among the activities that help define an exceptional academic experience for students are those that incorporate out-of-classroom interaction with others in the university community — particularly faculty. 

Our hope is to provide as many UD students as possible with a network of support and services by providing both a faculty mentor and a professional advisor.

Faculty Mentors can share their expertise to...

  • Broaden  understanding of the discipline
  • Enhance awareness of related professions
  • Expand knowledge of content areas
  • Help develop individualized focus areas
  • Challenge and promote intellectual growth and development
  • Enrich educational experiences through research, identification of internship opportunities, etc.
  • Assist in professional career development and related knowledge
  • Help build relationships and a network in the field, including professional organizations

Professional Advisors can share their expertise to...

  • Foster a successful transition from high school to college
  • Assist to identify and attain educational goals
  • Provide accurate information about majors, courses, and requirements
  • Interpret placement test scores and make appropriate course recommendations
  • Explain general education requirements
  • Assist with course selection & program planning
  • Explain admission requirements for schools and majors
  • Interpret university rules and policies
  • Help efficiently navigate the curriculum
  • Advise regarding transfer issues
  • Help take advantage of special opportunities such as study abroad

An effective advising and mentoring program should involve interactions between faculty, staff, and students. These include more formal interactions such as classroom teaching, and extend to informal contacts that include a wide variety of co-curricular, extracurricular, and social activities unique to each student’s life.   And, of course, the new UD-RPS Learning Communities initiative—which includes significant expansion of UD’s Exploring Your Options series—is another key example of programming to support such interactions.
All of these interactions serve as opportunities for students to seek guidance from both advisor and faculty mentor. Together these activities comprise an advising and mentoring network that helps students better engage with IUB’s academic community and become integrated into it.