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Faculty Relations

Faculty Relations / Early Career Mentorship Program

Early Career Mentorship Program

We are excited to announce the launch of SFU’s Early Career Mentorship Program, a new initiative designed to offer a more coordinated and centrally supported one-on-one mentorship program for early career faculty at the university. It is a pilot program that is based on a successful model established by the Academic Women Mentoring Program that started in 2022.  

The mentorship program represents a collaborative effort among the Office of the Provost and Vice-President, Academic; the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation; and the Office of the Vice-President, People, Equity and Inclusion. The program will be administered and housed within Faculty Relations. 

For more information, please contact Rebecca Sum at frlearn@sfu.ca

Why this program?

Early career faculty often face challenges navigating SFU’s structures, securing research funding, managing teaching responsibilities, working toward tenure and promotion, among other complexities as they progress throughout their academic career. This institutional mentorship program is designed to address those challenges through easier access to resources, information, and networking across the university. Mentorship programs with specific mandates and those within faculties and departments will not be replaced by this program.  

Key features of the program

  • A program for faculty members led by faculty members, with administrative support from staff members.
  • The mentorship program is interdisciplinary in nature; pairings between mentors and mentees will preferably be done outside of the mentee’s unit or Faculty.
  • Pairings of the mentor and mentees will be done based on the interests in terms of areas of mentorship via the intake form.
  • Mentors and mentees participation is voluntary and both parties can request to end the mentorship at any time. The mentorship agreement includes an initial commitment period of two years.
  • Resources and networking opportunities will be available for mentors and mentees to help the mentoring relationship to be mutually satisfying.

Faculty Mentorship Committee

The pairing process is led by the following faculty members:

  • Tim Storr, Professor and Graduate Program Chair, Chemistry
  • Sheri Fabian, University Lecturer, Director, Transforming Inquiry into Learning and Teaching (TILT), Criminology  
  • Helen Hok-Sze Leung, Professor, Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies

How do I get involved? 

Mentees: For this pilot program, we are currently inviting continuing early career faculty with appointments that started in 2025 (open to research faculty, teaching faculty and librarians) to sign up as mentees and take part in this exciting opportunity to connect and grow within SFU’s academic community.

Mentors: We’re also inviting mentors—experienced continuing faculty who are interested in supporting and guiding new faculty members to participate in this meaningful initiative.

The deadline to fill in the form is by the end of the day on November 10th.