Faculty at MGH Institute of Health Professions enjoy access to a range of professional development opportunities. While the Acceleration Academy is a structured, longitudinal faculty development program for instructors and assistant professors. The Mentorship Academy is for IHP faculty members at the rank of associate professor and professor. Participants will join a community of practice where they will receive support and training on how to mentor early career faculty members on teaching, research, and service.

Commitment includes participation in a one-hour facilitated check-in with other IHP mentors once a month from January to May and September to December 2024, service as a mentor to an Acceleration Academy participant should interests align, and a regular meeting cadence with mentee, if assigned.

 

Applications for the second cycle of the Mentorship Academy will open summer of 2026 for an anticipated September 2026 start.

You will:

  • Receive certificate of completion
  • Earn evidence of mentoring success for annual evaluation and promotion consideration
  • Gain new insights from engagement with an early career faculty member
     

Timeline

June 2026

Application Opens | Preview Application

Information session for interested applicants

July 1st, 2026Applications due
August 2026Accepted applicants notified
September 2026Program sessions begin once a month (in-person or online)
May 2027Graduation

 

  • Current or emeritus faculty member at IHP.
  • Have attained the rank of associate professor or professor.
  • Willing to attend 80% of nine monthly synchronous sessions in 2024.
  • Learning Objective
    • ​​​​​​​Increase understanding of rights and responsibilities of mentors and mentees.
  • Prework
  • Reading
  • Learning Objective
    • Break down the stages of the listening process.
  • Prework
  • Reading
    • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​Malh, Anchal et al. (2023). The art of listening. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 151(5), 921–926.

Upon successful completion of the program, participants will:

  • Distinguish mentorship from coaching and sponsorship
  • Identify the characteristics of an effective mentor
  • Apply evidence-based practices to support mentees
  • Evaluate the quality of a mentor-mentee relationship
     

No, all eligible faculty members who apply will be allowed to join the Mentorship Academy.

Members of the Mentorship Academy will have the opportunity to serve as mentors to participants in the Acceleration Academy. We expect that members will also use their experience in the Mentorship Academy to benefit all the mentees they have.

Early career faculty members who participate in the Acceleration Academy will receive a roster of potential mentors and have the opportunity to rank their preferred mentors. Mentors will be able to approve a match before it’s finalized.

Yes, participants in the Acceleration Academy will receive guidance on how to build a mentoring network and how to maximize the relationship with their mentors.

Mentors are meant to support mentees in the full spectrum of faculty responsibilities and psychosocial needs. Early career faculty will likely request special focus on developing a line of scholarship.

Mentors need not co-author with their mentees, who may be at a different stage of academic trajectory or have different intellectual interests. Mentors should be able to point mentees to opportunities for collaboration at the IHP and in the broader MGB and Boston academic environments.

Yes, program directors, chairs, and deans are eligible to participate although it is unlikely you will be paired with a mentee over whom you have supervisory or evaluative responsibility.

Mentors will not need to coordinate directly with the mentee’s academic unit leader. Mentors will help mentees develop individualized career plans and identify specific resources they need to achieve them. Mentees will then meet with their academic unit leaders for feedback on their plans and support in implementing them.

Yes, the principles of mentoring discussed in the Academy will apply to any academic mentoring relationship although the case studies will focus on mentoring early career faculty members.

We intend to monitor process measures to evaluate the program and identify improvements for future cycles. We will seek IRB approval for any data collection and secure consent from participants.

The development of the Academy was influenced by the findings of the NIH-funded Building Up study and its principal investigator, Doris Rubio of the University of Pittsburgh. We also incorporated elements identified by IHP faculty as part of a needs assessment survey in spring 2023.

Questions?

Contact Peter Cahn.

Peter Cahn in blue tie

Associate Provost for Academic Affairs Office of the Provost