The Department of Urology is committed to ensuring that our faculty members are in the best possible position to succeed professionally. We realized that mentorship is an essential ingredient for faculty success. As a result, we have developed a robust mentorship program that is tailored to the values of Northwestern and the needs of our junior faculty members.

The Northwestern Urology Early Career Launch Program is a three-year mentorship program designed for early career faculty (1-3 years post-training), emphasizing the areas of research, teaching, and clinical skills, particularly concerning career satisfaction, career management, and collegial networking. Launch teams (mentees, mentors, Dr. Ross and Dr. Schaeffer) will focus on key aspects of faculty growth and development. The goals, metrics, and deliverables for each meeting and academic year will be developed by the early career faculty member with their Launch Team.

Suggested areas of focus for meetings and deliverables include:

• Clinical: case mix, clinical volume, resources, scheduling, acquisition of new techniques, OR block time
• Education: development of teaching skills, formal teaching roles within Department and Institution
• Leadership: management and organizational skills, career goals, professional strengths, leadership education and development
• Promotion Planning: metrics to achieve, references and support, timing and trajectory
• Academic (Optional Track): research portfolio and focus, grant writing and funding, resources and space, utilization of resources and funding

Mentors and mentees will meet bimonthly during the first year of the program followed by quarterly meetings in years 2 and 3. Participants will also be required to attend a twice-annual group meeting with the entire Launch Team cohort. The group meeting will take place in September and March. The goals, metrics, and deliverables for each meeting and academic year will be developed by the early career faculty member with their Launch Team.

The following documents were designed to support a smooth process for the Launch Team cohort and to evaluate and continuously improve the mentorship program. These documents are password protected and if you are a part of the Launch Team cohort, you should have received the password at the beginning of the program. 

Workbook

The workbook is designed to provide an orientation to the program and mentoring process, sample mentorship meeting agendas, self-assessments, journal templates, and recommended readings and activities. The resources in this workbook are reflective of the focus areas of the program: personal development, professional development, skill development, academic career guid­ance, and leadership. 

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Modules

The Launch Team Program includes six training modules that align with key developmental domains for new faculty. Modules are designed to provide a framework for meeting discussions. Modules may be completed in an order that best supports mentee goals. These areas are: 

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• What is Your Why? 
• Building a Clinical Practice 
• Becoming an Educator 
• Strategic Service 
• Mentorship 
• Promotion Planning 

Optional Modules 

• Building Teams and Culture
• Scholarly Work 
• 2022-23 Inaugural Launch Team Pairing-Designated Folders- A pairing designated folder was created at the beginning of the program to make it easier for each mentorship pairing to organize and store files.  
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• Mentee Action Plan - To determine activities that ensure mentoring goals are met; a mentee action plan is a must. The mentee will complete the plan with help from the mentor. 
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• Mentorship Meeting Log - The mentee and mentor should record their meetings and activities to show progress achieved and assist with end-of-program feedback. 
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• Evaluation - At the mid-point of the program and at the end, mentees and mentors will be asked to evaluate the program. Their input will help make any necessary adjustments to ensure the program remains effective. 
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