CANCELED: The Multicultural Academic Council invites you to join us for our annual public talk on Mentoring. This year’s talk features Beronda Montgomery, MSU Foundation Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Assistant Provost for Faculty Development-Research at Michigan State University. Lunch available at 11:30 am.

Session Summary:

Mentoring is often positioned as the transfer of information from an experienced, senior individual (or mentor) to a junior, inexperienced individual (or mentee). Implicit in this description are the ideas that at the core of mentoring is a process of teaching – to guide, instruct and train – and that mentoring may largely be a one-way flow of information. Increasingly, however, mentoring is being understood as a process best facilitated through a bilateral exchange and flow of knowledge and learning between individuals in a mentoring exchange. In this evolving conceptualization and practice of mentoring, both mentor and mentee are positioned as learners and teachers. In this presentation, I explore effective means of cultivating mentoring as a place of collaborative learning and reciprocal cultivation, that promotes the growth and success of all involved in the mentoring process.

About the Speaker:

Professor Montgomery conducts research on the means by which plants and cyanobacteria are able to monitor and adjust to changes in their external environments. The ability of these largely immobile organisms to adapt their growth and fitness to dynamic environments increases their survival and maximizes productivity. Dr. Montgomery also conducts scholarship and training initiatives on effective research mentoring, research management and academic leadership, including issues related to mentoring diverse scholars, as well as faculty development. Dr. Montgomery’s scholarly efforts have been recognized by receipt of an NSF CAREER Award, being selected as a finalist in the 2014 Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Professors Competition, a 2015 Michigan State University Nominee for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) US Professor of the Year Award, and as an 2017-2019 American Society of Microbiology Distinguished Lecturer. Dr. Montgomery was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2018.

Sponsors:

This event is sponsored by the Multicultural Academic Council in collaboration with the Graduate School Office of Inclusion & Student Engagement and the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL) at Cornell and is supported by the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Finance Commission and the NSF AGEP Transformation Alliance: Improved Academic Climate for STEM Dissertators and Postdocs to Increase Interest in Faculty Careers (NSF Grant No. 1647094).

Accommodations:

We strive to make our events accessible to all community members.  Individuals who would like to request accessibility accommodations should indicate accommodation needs within the event registration and contact al546@cornell.edu with any questions. Please note that we ask that requests be made at least one week in advance of an event to help ensure they can be met.

Additional Information:

With support from PACE (Program for Achieving Career Excellence), Dr. Montgomery’s same public talk on mentoring will also take place on March 24 as part of the College of Veterinary Medicine’s  “Many Voices, One College” initiative. The March 24 talk will take place from 12-1pm (lunch provided at 11:30am) in Lecture Hall 4 in the CVM Center and will be followed by an open Q&A session from 1-2pm. We welcome you to join us for Dr. Montgomery’s talk on the date that works best for you.

Coronavirus/COVID-19:

According to current Cornell University policy to support the health and well-being of our campus communities in the face of uncertainty about coronavirus/COVID-19, visitors who have been in an area significantly affected by coronavirus/COVID-19 (currently mainland China, South Korea, Italy, Iran, and Japan) within 14 days of the scheduled visit to Cornell are not allowed to visit campus and must change their plans.  If you have been in one of these areas within 14 days of your scheduled visit, please let us know immediately and we will cancel your in-person attendance.  We may be able to arrange provisions for you to attend virtually.

Cornell’s coronavirus/COVID-19 web page includes up to date information about campus policies in this regard.  Thank you for your compliance and flexibility in this time of increased attention to health concerns locally and globally.