Expectations for National Advisors
National Advisors are invited to contact the Program Director, their Cohort Leader, or the Faculty Advisor Team Leader, if they have questions or concerns to discuss.
NOTE: National Advisors and Home Mentors have different roles in the ESP. Home Mentors are focused on helping the scholars with their scholarly projects; National Advisors are focused on successful progress through the ESP and career counseling. Although these roles often overlap, we make this distinction to minimize the burden on national advisors and home mentors.
National Advisors are assigned ONE scholar. Advisors serve several roles, as a career coach, with special emphasis on development of the scholar’s educator portfolio (EP) and curriculum vitae (CV), support for successful completion of ESP requirements, and facilitation of the scholar’s academic project. The advisor’s role requires commitment of a minimum of 15 hours per year (including in-person time at three PAS meetings).
National Advisors and their Scholars are assigned to Scholar Groups, usually composed of 4 scholars and their 4 assigned advisors. These groups interact throughout the year via phone calls and meet at RoundTable sessions at ESP@PAS day to discuss the scholars’ projects.
National Advisors are expected to remain involved with the Scholar until the scholar graduates from ESP which is usually one year after the 3rd ESP@PAS day.
Note: Each scholar also has a self-selected Home Mentor, so faculty advisors are NOT expected to take on the time-consuming role of a primary project mentor. Advisors are expected to supplement, not duplicate, the effort of the scholar’s Home Mentor. Advisors should monitor that the scholar’s Home Mentor is providing sufficient support and notify the ESP Cohort Leaders or Director if problems are apparent.
National Advisor responsibilities:
Between PAS meetings:
· National Advisors are expected to arrange monthly calls (a conference call line is available) for the scholar project group to provide support and trouble-shooting for projects, and/or to check-in about progress through all ESP requirements. While these calls may be brief, and it is understood that not all members of the group will be able to participate every time, these calls are an important means of building a community of practice and provide a valuable opportunity for scholars and advisors to get to know one another.
· Communicate monthly with scholars regarding project progress (individually or during the monthly call), assignments, CVs and EPs.
· Join quarterly National Advisors’ conference calls, scheduled by the Advisors’ Team Leaders.
· Review the Summaries for RoundTable reports from the entire Scholar Project Group to be prepared to discuss at ESP@PAS day.
At PAS meetings:
· At ESP@PAS, attend the RoundTable luncheon session with the Scholar Project Group and attend Advisors’ meeting. (Years 1-3)
· Meet face-to-face with assigned Scholar at the PAS meeting, at a time other than the ESP@PAS day, to discuss CV, EP, and career goals.
· If you are unable to attend PAS, notify Advisor Team Leader and Cohort Leader as soon as possible. Notify Scholar and offer the choice of meeting by phone, at a different conference, or with another faculty member to review career goals, CV and EP.