MENTORING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

Current Committee Members:

• Tyson Lewis (2024 Chair)
• Paula McAvoy (2025)
• Tatiana Geron (2026)
• Paul Geis (2027)

Purpose of the Committee:

A Mentorship Committee of at least three members shall be appointed by the incoming President to staggered terms of two years. The Chair shall be appointed by the President in consultation with the committee members. The Mentorship Committee shall select one of its members to serve as a non-voting liaison on the Commission on Professional Affairs. The function of the Committee shall be to promote equal opportunity employment practices by members of the Society and their affiliated institutions. The Committee will take responsibility for regular communication with the members of the society on issues related to the employment of philosophers of education, using such vehicles as newsletters, email, and scheduled sessions in annual meetings of the Society.

Current Initiatives:

Introducing the PES Mentorship Program, new for 2022-2023

The Mentorship Program is open to PES members of any age who are graduate students and/or working in contingent/precarious positions (e.g., adjunct instructors, NTT faculty, etcetera). Within the two aforementioned groups, priority in matching is then given to prospective mentees who are studying or working in relatively low-resource institutions (e.g., public and community colleges), and who are members of oppressed groups defined by class, race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, dis/ability, nationality, religion, and language use, among others. 

Through the use of a ‘Mentor Survey’ and a ‘Mentee Survey’, the Mentorship Committee will also strive to propose mentor-mentee pairs that reflect the matching preferences of both individuals. Matching preferences can relate to research interests, personal background, social identity, current circumstances and working conditions, and/or type of support. 

The program is built around a core ‘baseline’ level of support that mentors provide to mentees, focused specifically on building up conferencing skills, sharing professional experience, and cultivating confidence. Mentor-mentee pairs can agree to add layers of support beyond this baseline, but this extra support is not expected by the Mentorship Committee. (Mentors are under no obligation to provide additional/optional support.)

Once matched, mentors and mentees will both sign off on an agreement stipulating the core/baseline expectations for support; any additional layers of support agreed to; and an end date for the match. (Although mentors and mentees are certainly free to continue a mentorship relationship past this date, the program itself will no longer facilitate the relationship.)

‘Core’/‘Baseline’ support includes:

I. Attending one virtual pre-conference meeting with the mentee prior to the conference to discuss conferencing, networking, and/or presenting. 

II. Whether or not the mentee is presenting, attending one in-conference meeting with the mentee during the PES conference to offer general support and/or specific support around the mentee’s presentation. (Encouraged but not required: If the mentee is presenting, doing one’s best to attend and engage within the mentee’s session in a constructive and supportive manner.)

III. Offer an opportunity for future support by assisting in the preparation of a PES proposal for the following year, such as by providing feedback on a proposal draft.

‘Additional’/‘Optional’ support may include: 

• Brainstorming/workshopping ideas for research and writing. 
• Workshopping research projects unrelated to the PES conference.
• Facilitating professional introductions and connections. 
• Fielding questions related to the job market and professional development. 
• Flagging/sharing opportunities (e.g., CFPs, grants, job announcements, etcetera). 
• Reviewing application materials to grants, fellowships, jobs, etcetera. 
• Setting up additional mentorship meetings beyond the three core/baseline meetings.

1. Become a Mentor

If you are interested in becoming a PES mentor, please fill out the Mentor Survey below. Your responses will be considered by the Mentorship Committee on an ongoing basis as we take up new requests for mentorship. You are welcome to edit/update your responses at any time. In submitting your responses, you are indicating your willingness to serve as a mentor to any prospective mentee. (In turn, we will do our best to take your preferences into account.) 

1. Become a Mentee

If you are interested in finding a mentor within PES, please fill out the Mentee Survey below. You are welcome to edit/update your responses at any time. Your responses will be considered by the Mentorship Committee as we work to find and propose a suitable match. You will have the option of accepting or declining a proposed match before we reach out to invite a mentor to work with you. 

PES Mentorship Survey for Mentees:  https://forms.gle/fNm6vxW7SMU2VEWe6

PES Mentorship Survey for Mentors:   https://forms.gle/ce1wFqW7c2Lr2Pqa6

Mentoring and Development Committee Jobs Manual