USU Uintah Basin Professor to Co-Edit Handbook for Effective Mentoring in Academia

Utah State University Uintah Basin professor David Law, alongside University of New Mexico (UNM) professor Nora Domínguez, will co-edit a handbook titled “Making Connections: A Handbook for Effective Formal Mentoring Programs in Academia.” The duo has reached out to authors who will write the nineteen chapters in the book. The handbook is a collaborative institutional effort by the USU Empowering Teaching Open Access Book Series and UNM’s Mentoring Institute.

“This handbook is one of the many examples of the dedication to student success our Statewide Campus faculty provide,” stated Vice Provost Rich Etchberger. “Its impact will improve student experience across our institution but also provide value to other universities who want to provide the best possible experience for its students. We are proud of our faculty for being innovators and striving for excellence in their profession.”

According to Law and Domínguez, the handbook will make a unique and needed contribution to the mentoring field as it will solely focus on mentoring in academia. The book will be written for both practitioners and researchers and will be split into three sections. The first section will explore the evolution of the mentoring arena in academia and will position readers into understanding the origins of the subject. The second section will focus on designing, implementing, and evaluating effective mentoring programs at colleges and universities. The final section will provide a synthesis of evidence-based mentoring programs for undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff.

Law and Domínguez are finishing up the process of recruiting solicited authors. USU professors from across Statewide and Logan campuses will be responsible for writing five of the nineteen chapters. USU’s Statewide Campuses first piloted their faculty-to-student mentor program in the Uintah Basin, and has since expanded to all statewide campuses. The program helps bolster a culture of success at USU. Faculty mentors are personally matched to students to help support whatever challenges they might encounter while pursuing their degree. Students may receive career guidance and learn about internship opportunities in their field. During the current fall 2021 semester, 157 students are participating in the program.

For more information on the book’s table of contents, and guidelines for contributors, visit www.usu.edu/empowerteaching/publications/books/mentoring.

Law is a professor in Human Development and Family Studies at USU and serves as Associate Director of the USU Uintah Basin campus. Law earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from USU, his master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) from University of Wisconsin-Stout, and his Ph.D. in MFT from Brigham Young University. He is published in the fields of marriage and family therapy, family life education, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and mentoring in academia.

Law has received awards for his work in mentoring undergraduate students, most recently being recognized as the 2021 Emma Eccles Jones Collage of Education and Human Services Undergraduate Faculty Mentor of the Year. For the past five years Law has overseen the design, implementation, and evaluation of faculty-to-student mentoring programs for the Uintah Basin Campus and the USU Statewide Campus System.