Mentoring Grant Program
Mentoring has emerged as an important part of academic life in the last decade. In an increasingly complex world, faculty participate in a wider range of activities, from teaching and advising, doing research, and engaging in creative practice to preparing for review, building and administering programs, developing collegial relationships, and much else.
Mentoring provides a network of support for faculty as they negotiate this complicated terrain; it enables an individual faculty member to draw on the advice and experience of many others. Faculty may develop mentoring relationships with senior experts or early-career practitioners; they may collaborate with non-academic professionals such as librarians, editors, curators or administrators; they may forge connections both within the university and outside. This flexible model recognizes that no single individual possesses all the expertise needed to answer questions about research, pedagogy, promotion, or work-life balance; it also helps meet the mentoring needs of faculty members in interdisciplinary or niche fields and those underrepresented in the academy.
The New School favors an inclusive, non-hierarchical approach to mentoring rather than a traditional top-down model. Mentoring happens in multiple ways, according to faculty needs: one-on-one or in groups; senior to junior, peer to peer, even junior to senior; within departments or programs or outside of them; within a college, across several colleges, or, if appropriate, even outside of the university. Mentoring is always understood to be developmental rather than evaluative.
The New School’s Mentoring Grants Program supports faculty in creating their own mentoring networks or activities, either singly (Individual Grants) or in groups (Team Grants). It encourages faculty to become proactive in their own career development and to pursue mentoring opportunities tailored to their specific career paths.
The Provost's Office is committed to an ongoing evaluation of the Mentoring Grants Program, part of its new Mentoring Initiative. If you have any questions or are interested in reviewing project proposals, please contact the Office of Faculty Development at thefacultycenter@newschool.edu.
Mentoring Grants Program
The Mentoring Grants Program finances mentoring projects designed either by individual faculty members or by teams of faculty. All principal full-time faculty members (in the categories of tenure, extended employment, or renewable term appointments) are eligible to apply.
Applications are reviewed by a committee of full-time faculty members from the university’s colleges at different stages in their careers. Award amounts are determined on the basis of the project budget and the total number of awards made. The maximum award for an individual grant is $1,000 and for a team grant is $5,000.
Individual Grants Individual grants (up to $1,000) are awarded to faculty members for projects that expand their mentoring support in areas such as teaching, research, promotion and work-life balance, in association with on- or off-campus mentoring partners. Funds can be used for expenses related to traveling to visit a new mentoring partner, exploring new research or teaching methods with a mentor, or presenting research with a mentor. Grants can be given as honoraria to mentoring partners who come to The New School for presentations. Preference is given to projects that seek to establish ongoing, long-term mentoring relationships. See examples of projects supported by individual by visiting the Examples of Grants information below.
Team Grants Team grants (up to $5,000) provide support for departmental, college-level, and interdisciplinary mentoring projects involving teams of three or more faculty members; they address a need for mentoring support shared by a group of individuals. Topics might include orientation to the university and its culture, research and teaching skills, collegiality and community building, promotion and work-life balance. Preference is given to projects that involve a shared, public component. See examples of projects supported by team grants by visiting the Examples of Grants information below.
Applying for a Grant
The deadline to submit the application for the Mentoring Fund is March 1 each year. Please submit your application electronically to thefacultycenter@newschool.edu. For questions regarding the application process, please contact Rita Breidenbach.
Eligibility Principal full-time faculty members (in the categories of tenure, extended employment, and renewable term appointments) are eligible.
Criteria Particular attention will be given to proposals addressing a mentoring need that cannot be fully satisfied on campus. The selection committee is particularly interested in grant proposals that meet the following criteria:
Impact How does the project address an unmet mentoring need? Is the project likely to be effective in developing long-term mentoring support?
Feasibility How does the project's scope and budget reflect realistic, practical, and fiscally responsible mentoring outcomes?
Inclusion How does the project bring faculty together in a way that respects, promotes, and encourages diversity?
Replication How can the project serve as a model to be replicated at The New School?
Please note: Grants cannot be used to fund pre-existing programs or regular departmental or college activities.
Application Forms and Guidelines The application form for Individual Mentoring Mini-Grants (PDF) is available. Applicants must submit a discussion of current mentoring support (250 words maximum), a project summary (200 words maximum), a discussion of how the project addresses mentoring needs (500 words maximum), and a budget.
The application form for Mentoring Team Grants (PDF) is available. Applicants must submit an overview of the mentoring needs shared by team members (250 words maximum), a project summary (200 words maximum), a discussion of how the project enhances mentoring support for the faculty involved (500 words maximum), and a budget.
Application deadline: March 1 each year Awards announced: Fall semester of award year Earliest start date for funded projects: July 1 of award year Completion date for funded projects: June 30 of award year
I received a mentoring grant in 2016 to develop pedagogical approaches to teaching sound in the art & design classroom. It gave me the rare opportunity to invite the internationally recognized cinema and game sound designer Alex Joseph to come to Parsons. We worked together on a series of workshops for students and faculty that centered on innovative approaches to multisensory experience. This time with Alex was a catalyst for many of the approaches I have developed since then. - John Roach
Mentoring Grant Awards 2019-2020
Individual Grant Recipients
Heike Jens, Parsons. This grant will bring a mentor to The New School in an advisory role in the development of a new book project, Fabricating Fashion: Material Narratives of Time and Place.
Harpreet Sareen, Parsons. This proposal will fund travel to a mentor in Japan who works in the new area of bio-interaction spaces to determine what kind of space will support and help establish a future bio-interaction space at Parsons.
Team Grant Recipients
Cynthia Lawson, Parsons, with co-applicants Rhea Alexander, Parsons, Cotter Christian, Parsons, Jess Irish, Parsons, and Yvonne Watson, Parsons. This project builds on an individual mentoring grant Lawson received. The award will support faculty with a studio/creative practice who are interested in writing and publishing in a more traditional type of scholarship. The grant will fund a three-day writing intensive, modeled on the Design Incubation Writing Fellowship created and overseen by Aaris Sherin, a faculty member at St. John's University who will serve as the group's mentor.
Laura Liu, Lang, with co-applicants Ujju Aggarwal, SPE, and Shana Agid, Parsons. This grant will build on a previously awarded mentoring grant and will expand the work accomplished by this team in learning about established practices in a range of community-based practices and in 'how best to create support for our own collaboration across The New School.' This project has hosted Scholar Mentorship Workshops with external scholars who have developed an exemplary transdisciplinary body of work including community-based practices and creative projects within and beyond their academic institutions. The next phase will lead to Praxis workshops led by community mentors and thinkers working outside the academy in intellectual spaces of neighborhood and community organizing.
Kelly Walters, Parsons, with co-applicant Nadia Williams, Parsons. This project will create a peer mentoring network for faculty of color. The emphasis will be on relationship-building, professional development, peer reviews of curriculum, social media, CVS and portfolios, and collective visioning of a future of faculty of color peer mentoring within The New School.
Jaskiran Dhillon, SPE, with co-applicants Siddhartha Deb, Lang, and Sean Jacobs, SPE. This project will target faculty working in the Global South who currently rely on mentors from outside the institution for assistance with research, writing, thinking and practice. This project aims to create a transnational network of scholars, writers, thinkers and organizers through a zone of engagement that brings together Indigenous North America, South Africa, and South Asia. The emphasis is on relationship building and identifying potential collaborators, especially ‘in making connections between political struggles in the Global South and conditions in settler colonies like the United States and Canada.’
Mentoring Grant Awards 2018-2019
Individual Grant Recipients
Cynthia Lawson, Parsons. This grant will support mentoring for Fair Craft, a book-in-progress. It will also bring together faculty to explore the possibility of bringing the Design Incubation Writing Fellowship to Parsons next year.
Ricardo Montez, SPE. This proposal will bring a mentor to The New School in an advisory role for the development of a writing project.
Team Grant Recipients
Cotter Christian, Parsons, with co-applicants Doris Chang, NSSR; Emily Moss, Parsons; Lisa Norton, Parsons; and Latha Poonamallee, SPE. This project will integrate mentorship opportunities which support faculty well-being and pedagogy through mindfulness and contemplative practices. The Mentoring Fund will support bringing three experts to campus and will send three members of the team to the annual Association for Contemplative Mind in High Education conference at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, this fall. The conference is a multidisciplinary gathering for researchers with an emphasis on fostering compassionate social change. A portion of the local guest visits will be open to members of the mindfulness working group as well as the larger university community.
Laura Liu, Lang, with co-applicants Ujju Aggarwal, SPE; Shana Agid, Parsons; and Melissa Friedling, SPE. This project will support development of sustainable intellectual connections across programs and schools within The New School and with external community partners and scholars. The grant will bring three scholars to campus to mentor faculty around pedagogy, research, and community practice. The team will launch a larger project, Envisioning Counter-Topographies of Land and Labor, convening scholars and practitioners from the humanities, design, and social sciences to advance critical civic and social literacy in a world that is increasingly globalized.
John Roach, Parsons, with co-applicants Edward Keller, Parsons; Shannon Mattern, SPE; Julie Napolin, Lang; and Soyoung Yoon, Lang. This project will bring speakers and workshop leaders together "to provoke dialogue around their shared sonic terrain that sits humming under The New School's surface." The team will bring a roster of theorists and practitioners to open avenues for integrating considerations of sound into research and practice, offer examples of interdisciplinary linkages afforded by sound, and provide ideas for future curricular work that activates sound across the university.
Deborah Levitt, Lang, with co-applicants McKenzie Wark, Lang; Edward Keller, Parsons; and Anezka Sebek, Parsons. A continuation of work previously supported by a mentoring grant, this project will advance the development of the Media Mentoring Network to improve collaboration and coordination between research and teaching in the area of media across multiple colleges and programs. The faculty aim to produce short instructional videos to share with the larger media community within the university and spark further dialogue and collaboration.
Aaron Jakes, Lang, with co-applicants Clara Mattei, NSSR; and Quentin Bruneau, NSSR. This project will support the mentorship of academic manuscript development.
Examples of New School Grants
Doris Chang
Doris Chang, associate professor of psychology at The New School for Social Research, received funds for travel and participation in the 2012 American Psychological Association Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology, a program designed to prepare, support, and empower women psychologists as leaders to promote positive changes in institutional and organizational life. The program included a two-and-a-half-day workshop in Orlando and a follow-up meeting in Washington DC.
Heike Jenss
Assistant professor of fashion studies Heike Jenss worked closely with a leading senior scholar of fashion studies at the University of California-Davis. During her week-long research visit, Jenss shaped her research and materials into her first English-language monograph. Her mentor read through some of her draft materials and provided hands-on questions and comments that helped her strengthen her focus. The visit also included meetings with a group of PhD students and other faculty who provided feedback. Inspired by their research interests, Jenns and her mentor proposed and co-chaired a panel at an annual meeting of the Popular Culture Association.
Victoria Marshall
Victoria Marshall, assistant professor of urban design at Parsons, used her grant to support a studio visit from Tang Keyang, a Beijing-based curator and architectural designer. He visited Marshall's studio and discussed and provided feedback on her book proposals. He also met with other faculty and gave a roundtable talk at The New School's India China Institute.
New School Team Grants
A team of faculty from Parsons (School of Design Strategies and School of Art, Media, and Technology) and from NSPE’s Media Studies program developed a faculty-led working group to foster a creative culture of DIY (do-it-yourself) learning, research, and community-based civic engagement. The team held regular informal meetings and organized two retreats, each incorporating the participation of an external mentor and attendees from outside of the university. During the retreats, the faculty discussed DIY and participatory culture as an emerging area of scholarship, research, and creative practice and the challenges of securing external funding to support such endeavors. Both external mentors had experience securing funding and offered advice in this area. The team also organized two public lectures. Through this mentoring project, faculty members expanded their professional networks and developed innovative tools, methods, and modes of creative inquiry for peer-based learning and co-production.
In 2013-2014, a team grant helped create a community of faculty from across the university interested in gender-based difference and inequalities and in feminist research and pedagogy. Faculty met twice a semester, over a meal, to discuss work and professional challenges, including pedagogical strategies and reviews. The group organized two events, including a seminar run by the Op-Ed Project. The Op-Ed Project was designed to get women and minority voices into the public sphere by providing access to a network of journalists and mentors who give advice on op-eds and other such writing and on placement of the pieces.
Supported by a team mentoring grant, Parsons' Academic Promotion and Tenure Committee hosted an all-day event titled What Is Peer Review? Designed for full-time faculty across subject areas and focused on practice-based learning, this event raised awareness of the range of options for peer review and dissemination of research, scholarship, and creative practice throughout faculty members' career trajectories at Parsons and The New School. Panels identified distinctions and commonalities between traditional, practice-based, juried/curated, and online modes of peer review. In addition, one session was dedicated to examining the scholarship of teaching.
Grants Awarded by the University of Massachusetts Amherst
The New School's Mentoring Grants program was modeled on the Mutual Mentoring program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Lists of grants awarded by the Center for Teaching and Faculty Development at the University of Massachusetts Amherst serve as additional examples of the types of activities that can be funded by Mentoring Grants.