Eligibility and Recruitment Process

Eligibility for Mentees

Professio is designed for Baylor University associate professors who are preparing to move toward promotion to full professor and who wish to reflect more deeply on teaching, research, vocation, and community in light of Baylor’s Christian mission.

Eligible mentees should:

• Hold the rank of associate professor at Baylor University. 
• Be interested in making meaningful progress toward promotion to full professor. 
• Be willing to participate in one-on-one mentoring with a full professor from another department. 
• Be able to participate, as schedules allow, in the kickoff workshop, four cohort lunches, monthly mentor–mentee meetings, and the capstone retreat. 
• Complete a brief Mentoring Covenant outlining scholarly, vocational, and professional goals for the year. 

Eligibility for Mentors

Mentors should be Baylor University full professors who are committed to supporting associate professors in their scholarly development, vocational reflection, and movement toward promotion.

Eligible mentors should:

• Hold the rank of full professor at Baylor University. 
• Be willing to meet monthly with an assigned associate professor mentee. 
• Participate in the kickoff workshop and mentor training, or review recorded materials if unable to attend. 
• Support the mentee in clarifying goals related to scholarship, teaching, promotion, service, vocation, and institutional contribution. 
• Participate in the capstone retreat, as schedules allow. 

Mentors will receive supplemental pay for their participation. Because this payment will be processed through Baylor, mentors must be eligible for additional incentive compensation pay. Final eligibility will be confirmed before mentor appointments are finalized.

Matching Process

IFL will match associate professor mentees with full professor mentors from different departments, while seeking broad disciplinary alignment. The program anticipates two general tracks: Humanities/Social Sciences and STEM/Health. The goal is to widen participants’ networks while preserving enough disciplinary resonance for mentoring conversations to be useful.

Recruitment Process

In the spring of 2026, Professio principal investigators Elijah Jeong and Bill Sterrett overviewed Professio with Baylor Chairs and Deans, inviting them to share the Professio invitational survey. The IFL also solicited nominations and self-nominations, recruiting a diverse cohort across colleges and professional schools.