Recruiting Faculty as Mentors
Dr. Jonathan L. Wharton, Assistant Professor of Political Science and History, Stevens Tech, Faculty Fellow
Recruiting members for a chapter and volunteers for an Alumni and Volunteer Corporation is already challenging. And recruiting faculty to advise and mentor your chapter can be a harrowing experience. But it is worth the time and effort to recruit faculty. Finding and enticing solid faculty members to join your chapter is about selling the benefits of a chapter to a faculty member and not offering the usual pre-packaged sales pitch about SigEp.
Know your audience
Generally speaking, faculty members are a tough bunch. Chapters need to recognize that faculty members are not the easiest people to sell their chapter to. Appeal to their most valuable senses. Many professors (note: not all) enjoy mentoring. Find a professor who enjoys teaching, advising and mentoring. It’s not so hard. It could be your professor from freshman year or a professor in your major who has helped countless students. And since a fraternity like SigEp is about shaping protégés, it should be a slam-dunk to pitch the Balanced Man Program.
Speak from example
Go beyond the scripted talk and sales pitch and speak to a professor more about testimonials or empirical evidence about exemplary chapters and their experiences. If you’re going to appeal to a professor’s senses, demonstrate how impactful the experience of chapter mentorship is not just for students, but also for professors. Whether a chapter has had professors conduct office hours, study sessions or participate in chapter programming and events, there are countless examples of professors helping chapters. When you speak from example, professors are not as prone to be the curmudgeons they’re stereotyped to be.
Offer help
Don’t let this be a one-way street. Professors need help, too. If a chapter can aid with research efforts towards a book, article or paper, we’ll recruit your men to help us! It’s like Christmas for us when students offer assistance and express interest in an experiment or helping with research efforts. Sell the potential of how a chapter can benefit a professor, and you’ve got the professor’s attention. For my chapter, a number of undergrads—and alumni—have assisted me with research for my dissertation, conference papers, and book. Not only did their help benefit me, they also learned the importance of academic research, and I acknowledged their efforts in my works. In fact, many of them have inspired me to pursue future projects. Of course you and your chapter want a mentor, but having the manpower to help with a project is just as inspiring—if not necessary—for a professor. After all, mentoring is a two-way street. Having protégés help mentors is impactful for all parties.
Ultimately, finding professors for mentoring a chapter should not be the problem. Selling your chapter to a professor and what’s in it for them is the more difficult challenge. By pitching it beyond a mentoring opportunity and as a benefit for all parties with exemplary testimonials, you may just appeal to a professor’s heart and mind.
For more information: Faculty Fellows
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