Purdue-SBBCLE and Subramaniam Coaching and Resource Network (CRN) Model
CRN members and mentees gather for a reception held in May 2022.
The Susan Bulkeley Center for Leadership Excellence initiated the Coaching and Resource Network (CRN) for assistant and associate professors in fall 2019. The Butler Center leads this program. ADVANCE Purdue is a partner. The main goal of the network is to coach and mentor faculty. The members of the CRN coach assistant and associate professors beyond disciplinary needs and requirements to develop a long-term ongoing relationship. The CRN is created outside the appeal and evaluative process. Serious issues including grievances should be directed to the Faculty Liaison Program. For details, contact Faculty Affairs.
Why the CRN?
Why the CRN?
The basic premise of the CRN is that faculty members, particularly women and faculty of color, may be better served by a portfolio of mentors. Mentoring programs involving sponsorship - including the sharing of credibility and standing in the field – can prove useful. By emphasizing that the CRN is not for discipline focused mentoring (such as advice about which journals to publish in or review grant proposals) but for coaching, supporting, and mentoring, an actionable program was created based on the theoretical conceptualization of the multiple mentor model relying on a vertical dyadic approach. So, the CRN is not a conventional or traditional mentoring program; it is intended for members to coach, sponsor, and mentor assistant and/or associate professors.
The CRN was initiated to provide a resource for faculty and especially women and women of color who express discomfort and feelings of isolation. These concerns can have a profound impact on the lives and work of faculty members, and therefore on their productivity. In addition, it may involve a loss of talent and potential to the institution. But the CRN itself is not limited or restricted to women; it is open to all assistant and associate professors considering gender is about how relations of power are structured; it is relational and intersectional and is about both men and women.