Scholar/Mentor Program

This program has been cancelled for 2020.

---

Program Description

With support from the School of Graduate Studies and Continuing Education, the LEARN Center will again offer the Scholar/Mentor Program--a program designed for tenure-track faculty who seek to develop their scholarly writing and publication skills in a supportive, systematic, summer-long program. Teams of untenured faculty will work with a tenured-faculty research mentor to examine writing habits, critique their own and the scholarly work of other untenured faculty, and submit an article for publication. Teams will be formed in disciplines related to the following areas:

Business • Education • Sciences • Humanities • Social Science

Download 2019 Information as a PDF

Program Goals

The program is designed such that, upon completion, participants will have:

1. improved time-management skills—increasing time devoted to scholarly writing;
2. improved clarity and coherence of their scholarly writing;
3. refined understanding of writing, submission, review and publication processes;
4. developed collegial relationships with other scholars committed to publication;
5. increased confidence in their ability to write and publish original research;
6. and submitted an article for publication.

Program Designs

The design of the program is modeled after similar initiatives at other universities. Each team will convene six times (one-hour meetings arranged approximately every two weeks) during summer. Untenured faculty committing to participation in the program will:

1. identify a writing project that, by the end of summer, will reach a point where it will be submitted for publication;
2. articulate specific writing goals and commit to writing five times a week for 20-40 minutes daily (keeping a log of writing activity);
3. complete pre-meeting work (e.g., revising drafts, completing readings, reviewing work of others);
4. attend and participate in hour-long team meetings six times during the summer to discuss their writing, writing of others, or topical readings;
5. submit his/her article for publication; and
6. complete a program evaluation.

Beyond the meetings, it is anticipated that participants will be required to commit approximately 3-5 hours every two weeks to the program during the summer. Individuals who anticipate being unavailable for four weeks or more during the summer, are asked not to apply to the program. Those with summer teaching assignments are still encouraged to apply.

For participating in the program, each untenured faculty participant will receive a $500 line of faculty development credit, that can be used to defray costs associated with travel, books, software, etc., (to be used between 1 September and 1 June). A program evaluation must be completed before these funds can be used.

 

Application

Interested individuals must submit a two-three page application that contains the following information:

1. Contact & Schedule Information—name, department, preferred telephone number and email address, and teaching schedule for summer, if applicable;
2. Discipline Genre—e.g., social sciences, humanities, education, business;
3. History as a Scholar—experiences, successes, and failures;
4. Self-Perceived Understanding of the Submission and Publication Process--indicate on a scale of “1” (one) to “7” (seven), where“1” represents “very limited scholarly publishing knowledge/experience,” and “7” represents “extensive publishing knowledge/experience,” where the applicant views him/herself;
5. Self-Perceptions of Strengths and Weaknesses as a Scholar—listing, at least, three perceived strengths, and three perceived weaknesses as a scholar;
6. Scholarly Writing Habits—describe typical scholarly writing practices (How often? Where? How much at one sitting? etc.);
7. Goals for Participation—what are, at least, three outcomes that the participant desires to derive from participation (e.g., What do you want to learn more about? What do you want to do better?, etc.);
8. Writing Project—describe the history and current status of the writing project/manuscript (e.g., Has it been presented at a conference or previously submitted? If so, what does reviewer feedback suggest?) and indicate a source (i.e., journal) targeted for submission;
9. Addendum—attach a current draft of the writing project/manuscript.

 

---

2019 Deadline Information:

Digital applications (and attachments) should be sent to learn@uww.edu and are due by 4:30pm on Tuesday, May 28, 2019. Applications will be reviewed by a LEARN Center panel. Selection will be based on quality of the applications and other considerations (e.g., representation from various departments).

Final selections will be made and applicants notified by Friday, June 7, 2019.

---

For more information, contact Heather Pelzel in the LEARN Center