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Inside the mentorship program helping new faculty thrive at SFU
For new faculty member Jennesia Pedri, one of the most valuable lessons from her mentor, Sheri Fabian, has been deceptively simple: not every hour of the day needs to be filled with work.
After three years as a limited-term lecturer, Pedri moved into a continuing role in Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) School of Communication, carrying with her the familiar academic instinct to always be working. Through her mentorship with Fabian, a university lecturer in the School of Criminology, she began to think differently about how she spends her time and energy. It’s the kind of advice that won't appear in any faculty handbook but captures exactly what SFU's Early Career Mentorship Program was designed to provide.
For academics, led by academics
New faculty arrive at SFU as accomplished scholars, but often as first-time navigators of administrative processes, expectations and unwritten rules. The Early Career Mentorship Program was created to help bridge that gap.
"This initiative helps new faculty navigate their careers at SFU by providing a trusted, experienced colleague outside their home unit or faculty," says Rebecca Sum, director, Operations & Leadership Initiatives in Faculty Relations, who oversees the program.
Mentees get a confidential space to raise questions they may not feel comfortable asking within their own department, while building connections across disciplines and faculties. "It's a program for academics, led by academics."
The idea grew out of conversations between the Vice-President, Research and Innovation (VPRI) office and Faculty Relations, after supporting early-career faculty was named a priority in SFU's 2023-2028 Strategic Research Plan. Drawing on lessons from the Academic Women Mentoring Program, the resulting two-year pilot launched in Fall 2025, creating opportunities for new research and teaching faculty to seek guidance and build relationships across disciplines.
Applications are now open for the next cohort, with a new group of mentors and mentees set to be paired this fall. Fill out the intake form and apply today.
A space to ask what you don’t know
Fabian has spent more than 20 years at SFU and has long been interested in mentorship. She first met Pedri through her work as director of SFU's Transforming Inquiry into Learning and Teaching program when Pedri was a limited-term lecturer. When the two were matched through the program, that familiarity created a comfortable space for Pedri to turn to as she settled into her new role. "Sometimes when you're new to something, you actually don't know what your questions are yet," she says.
"The relationship evolved into an opportunity to touch base with someone outside my discipline and figure out those questions as they emerged."
The mentorship quickly revealed how many of the questions facing early-career faculty have less to do with discipline and more to do with academic life in general. Fabian has helped Pedri navigate university structures and expectations, while also clarifying how differently a teaching-track career unfolds. Promotion to senior lecturer isn't defined by a single application or milestone. Instead, it is built over time through teaching excellence, leadership in educational initiatives such as workshops and curriculum development, the scholarship of teaching and learning and contributions to the broader school community.
One piece of advice that stuck with Pedri centred on the idea that faculty don't need to structure their days around a traditional nine-to-five schedule. For Pedri, who came from a culture of constantly needing to be productive, it was a reminder that well-being and longevity matter too.
These are the career lessons Fabian had to work out largely on her own two decades ago, when there was no mentor around to explain it. Now she's helping Pedri build toward it deliberately.
"We're not done," Fabian says. "At the end of the two years, we're going to continue to meet regularly. I don't see that changing."
Planning past the finish line
In the Faculty of Health Sciences, Nicole Berry has mentored for years through the Academic Women program, within her own faculty and now through the institution-wide pilot. Her mentee, Megh Marathe, arrived at SFU after three years as a faculty member in the United States, adjusting to a new funding system and a new academic home in Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies after working largely in information science.
"I think one can never have too many mentors," Marathe says. "Different aspects of faculty life need different kinds of mentoring, and it's often difficult to find that in one person or one department."
Berry, a medical anthropologist, and Marathe, a human-computer interaction researcher, work in very different fields. That difference has nevertheless become one of the strengths of their mentorship. Berry helps Marathe think beyond their field, explore different approaches and connect with people who can provide more specialized guidance. For example, when Marathe is exploring how to frame a new research idea, Berry can point to examples from other disciplines, such as epidemiology, that may offer useful models or approaches.
That broader perspective has also shaped how Marathe thinks about an academic career. One piece of advice that has stayed with them is to plan beyond tenure. Marathe was already thinking years ahead about a tenure package but had not considered what comes after it until Berry asked what they hoped to do during a future sabbatical and beyond.
Berry often compares an academic career to running a marathon. Faculty can spend years working toward tenure, only to find that there are still decades of their careers ahead. "You don't want to have to figure that out when you're exhausted," she says.
For Berry, that focus on the next milestone can sometimes mean relationships receive less attention in academia. “We can underestimate how important relationships are in our careers, especially when our research agendas are the main criteria upon which we're being evaluated,” she says. Mentorship, in that sense, creates space for the conversations and relationships that can otherwise be overlooked.
Apply for the Fall 2026 cohort
The Early Career Faculty Mentorship Pilot Program is now entering its second year, with a new cohort of mentors and mentees launching this fall. The program is open to early-career faculty across research and teaching streams, as well as librarians and archivists. Mentees are paired with experienced colleagues outside their home unit for confidential, one-on-one support.
New and early-career faculty interested in applying as a mentee can visit the program’s website to learn more about joining the Fall 2026 cohort.
This is the fifth story in a series highlighting the progress and impact of SFU’s Strategic Research Plan. Read the other stories in the series on supporting: graduate students, new faculty through Research Support Sessions, postdoctoral fellows and community-centred climate innovation.
Learn more about SFU’s ongoing progress and other initiatives supporting early-career researchers (faculty) in the Strategic Research Plan, its implementation plan and the midway progress snapshot (PDF).