Information for Faculty Mentors
As reflected in the Call for Teaching Anti-Racism/Anti-Black Racism Courses Facilitated by Undergraduates with a Faculty Mentor, empowering students to work with close faculty supervision to design and facilitate seminars that focus on learning about anti-racism/anti-Black racism provides novel opportunities to support student learning and personal growth. Thank you for taking notice of this call and for considering mentoring a student team!
Who is eligible to serve as a faculty mentor?
Faculty mentors must be Academic Senate faculty. Faculty mentors will be selected by the applicants.
What are the responsibilities of faculty mentors?
Spring 2023
Students interested in initiating and facilitating an anti-racism/anti-Black racism course must secure your approval and sponsorship by the January 5, 2023 application due date. As a faculty mentor, you are agreeing to sponsor a 2-3 person student team and meet with them to discuss the course concept. Faculty mentor responsibilities include the following:
Review the content of the proposed course to determine that it is within the scope of your department’s curricular offerings. Courses will be multiply listed in the Honors Collegium and in the faculty mentor’s department(s).
Determine that there is a clear pedagogical rationale for offering the proposed course.
Complete and submit the required Faculty Mentor Agreement form by June 7, 2023 at 11:59PM PDT.
Fall 2023
Student facilitators/curator must enroll in a 4-unit academic activity (e.g., independent study course, teaching practicum, directed readings) of the faculty mentor’s determination and for which the mentoring faculty member will receive credit for the supervision of the course development. Faculty mentor expectations include the following:
Meet regularly with the students to develop a comprehensive plan for the seminar.
Clarify to the student the respective roles and responsibilities of the student facilitator and faculty mentor. This includes: (a) developing a plan for supervision and reviewing this plan with the student; (b) guiding the development and reviewing the content of the seminar proposed by the students in both scholarly and pedagogical terms; (c) reviewing and approving the course syllabus prepared by the students; (d) establishing with the student facilitators a system for keeping accurate records and documentation to support the awarding of credit to enrolled students; and (e) informing the student facilitator that you are responsible for supervising the awarding of all final grades and for reporting grades to the Registrar’s Office.
Winter 2024
Download the course enrollment roster and provide a copy to the student facilitators.
Verify that the student facilitators are not enrolled in their own seminar.
Meet with the students regularly to provide guidance as they facilitate their seminar.
Visit at least one session of your students’ seminar, preferably in the earlier part of the quarter. (There is no obligation to visit every seminar.)
Submit final grades for the enrolled students.
What support will be available?
Faculty who serve as mentors for a student team whose course proposal is selected will receive a $1,500.00 stipend.
The work of faculty mentors and student facilitator teams will also be supported by a faculty-led advisory committee comprised of faculty, graduate students, and colleagues who are knowledgeable about diversity, equity, and inclusion and the mentoring faculty member’s departmental anti-racism/anti-Black racism curricular needs, and others who have specialized expertise in selected areas (e.g., pedagogy; archiving, etc.). Advisory committee members will be responsible for reviewing and selecting course proposals. They will also provide feedback on syllabus drafts and, along with students who are enrolled in these courses, will offer perspective on materials to be curated.
Ultimately, we envision the creation of these courses as a focal point for creating an inclusive, dynamic collaborative learning environment that serves to enrich and expand the campus network of support for developing anti-racism/anti-Black racism curricula within a discipline. The courses can provide unique opportunities for student growth and development, and support UCLA’s efforts to help students to thrive at UCLA and beyond.
Questions?
Please contact Honors Programs: honors@college.ucla.edu