Unfortunately, some chairs really resent anyone besides themselves providing information/advice to a junior faculty — usually those in the most repressive departments, who don’t want junior faculty knowing that there are alternative realities to what is being presented to them by the chair!

I do think institutionalizing this goes a long way to resolving some of the class/gender issues. When I was in grad school, we surveyed grad students on their experiences, and the biggest discrepancy: male grad students were much more likely to stop by to chat with faculty than were female grad students, who only stopped by with very specific questions.

Some institutional changes can help to level this playing field.

It was completely professional – my mentor asked to see my Tenure guidelines (unionized, state-university) and we went over the process in detail. She asked all the right questions – about the acceptance rate of the journals, how my teaching evals compared to the Department and the college, how I was getting along with others, any red flags? etc.

As the year went along (one-year process for first year on tenure-line) it morphed into a more collegial/friendly relationship, where we’d go out for coffee and chat about common issues (i.e.: how the financial strain was affecting our Departments, etc.). It never really got into the realm of “bitching” about the Department, and I didn’t say anything that (I think) could haunt me. In fact, I think my mentor went first, saying something like: “What about that oddball we all know about in your Department? is he causing problems for you?”

Also, I should note: the mentoring program was specifically set up this way (I heard) because it is designed to offer an alternative to junior faculty to the standard processes of reporting ethical and professional dilemmas. For instance: if you’re mentor in the lab is doing something clearly wrong that could damage your career but you don’t feel safe being a whistle-blower, this provides another avenue for reporting. Plus it also allows for reporting on sexual harassment – or gender discrimination – outside of the standard Departmental or HR route (both problematic for different reasons).

LadyProf, you raise an important question about the politics of an XX person demanding anything–I’m going to post on Sisyphus’s post later today, so as they say, “watch this space…”

On the other hand, my grad. school mentor was exactly what I wanted and needed. When preparing for prelims, & then writing my diss., I met with her infrequently, like every other month, for several hours at a time. We hashed out tons of ideas and problems and found new directions during those meetings. Then I would disappear into the stacks again until I ran out of steam and needed another charge of fresh energy from her. I *loved* that independent, yet available for in-depth meeting style. On the other hand, others of her students found her too hands-off, so here’s another problem to the mix: great mentoring for one student/prof. is poor mentoring for another.

If I remember correctly, some of my fellow students said that they wished that there was a formal mentoring program. It might have benefited me, since I tend to be introverted and don’t make connections or network easily. On the other hand, if the assigned mentor was indifferent, unsympathetic, etc., it could be a disaster.

@Sisyphus, I loved your post, but isn’t your stance another iteration of “women don’t ask” re: salary? If you insist on privilege (or equal pay) and the person you’re talking to doesn’t agree that you are entitled to it, you might get lucky, but you might also come across as an arrogant nut and get punished.