Mentoring: Then and Now

Abstract

Few endeavors are more important in academic life than mentoring. It has proven worth because it increases faculty productivity, retention and promotion and also provides demonstrable value to the institution. It is likely that is has miserable work. I had become intrigued with medicine and research after reading Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis, so I enrolled in a biochemistry course. A young assistant professor named Paul Melius made the course interesting and, because I did well, he gave me a job washing glassware in his research laboratory. Conversations about biology and research led me to firmly decide on a career in medicine. Thus, this influential teacher had a critical impact on my career choices. I left Auburn for Birmingham seeking a summer job before medical school. I would like to say that this was a well-conceived intellectual decision, but in fact I was following a young woman I met in college who had a new equal value to those who leave the academic health center for the private sector, although that is less well documented. Mentoring has changed drastically in the 50 years I have been in academic medicine. When I was a progressing from student to faculty member, mentoring was almost universally practiced, but was not publically discussed. From my perspective, there was a period from about 1980 to 2000 when mentoring ceased being part of the academic mission, although some departments, divisions, and individuals never wavered in their dedication to this important process. In the past 10 years, there has been a resurgence and “institutionalization” of mentoring and this promises important dividends for faculty and institutions. In this personal perspective, I hope to illustrate what mentoring and faculty development was in the 1950s through the 1970s, and what it has become in the past decade. I illustrate the differences between mentors, critical career advisors, and influential teachers/role models. I direct the reader to useful, recent information about mentoring/career development and share my own perspective.