By Rick Vacek | June 14, 2024
The value of on-the-job mentoring is best measured in memories that never stop paying off. Even if the relentless clock of life clouds the recall of names and events, solid advice remains crystal clear.
“I think about those people all the time,” said Dr. Syed Kaazim Naqvi, thinking back to his days as a high school history teacher. “It’s been decades since I worked with some of those people, but there are all these times where I think about an idea they gave me.
“I’ve always really valued the input other people have, especially early in your career, in shaping the way you think about things.”
The associate professor of instruction in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies (IS) at The University of Texas at Dallas got an opportunity during the 2023-24 academic year to serve as a mentor, and his first experience in that role was just as satisfying.
His guidance was so highly appreciated, in fact, he was named the first non-tenure-track winner of the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Mentoring.
In its second year, the award was doubled to recognize both faculty categories, and the tenure-track winner was Dr. Michael Kesden, associate professor of physics in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM).
“We recognize that mentoring faculty requires significant effort and commitment,” said Dr. Meghna Sabharwal, associate provost for faculty success. “While mentoring is crucial for faculty success, the Provost understands that mentoring tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty can differ.
“This year, we received many nominations from mentees of both tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty. To recognize these contributions, we have, with the Provost’s approval, introduced two separate awards: one for tenure-track faculty and another specifically for non-tenure-track faculty, acknowledging their significant contributions, particularly in mentoring related to teaching activities.”
Naqvi once worried that an assignment was too hard for his high school students and might discourage them. “I want them to like history,” he told a more experienced colleague he considered a mentor.
Her response: People like things that they master. But to attain mastery, they must push themselves – or be pushed.
“I had never heard that in my life,” he said. “I thought that was the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard. Now, I think about it all the time because I’ve come to realize how much wisdom was there along with the fact that there’s a limit to that logic, as well.”
Notice that Naqvi didn’t just accept what he was told at face value. He dwelled on it and then applied it in a way that worked for him. But he believes that such mentorship has helped mold him into the teacher he is today.
“The ability to stretch me, to push myself to try to use new types of approaches, to rethink reasoning for why I do things, to see other people in action and learn from them … the advice people give you can impact you for years,” he said.
Naqvi mentored Dr. M. Lance Lusk, who joined IS as an assistant professor of instruction for the fall 2023 semester and has a neighboring office.
In nominating Naqvi for the award, Lusk wrote that his mentor “exemplifies the very behaviors, attitudes and values that we strive to instill in our students here at UTD. His passion for compassionate teaching is contagious, and his commitment to academic excellence is evident in all that he does. He consistently demonstrates a strong work ethic, intellectual integrity and a genuine desire to see me succeed.”
Lusk concluded by declaring that Naqvi “has had a profound impact on my professional development and overall satisfaction with being employed at UTD.”
But the real hero, in Naqvi’s view, is the Faculty Mentoring Program.
“I really appreciate the support the University has given on this front,” he said. “It’s hard – Lance has a family. I have a family. To do all this stuff, unstructured, on your own time can be tricky. To create these events and these opportunities for us to get together and have moments to chat, that’s been really helpful.”
Mentors are matched with mentees from the same school and, ideally, from the same department. That certainly helped build Kesden’s relationship with his protégé, Dr. Aaron Smith, assistant professor of physics in NSM.
“Our offices are close to each other, which facilitates almost daily interactions and enhances the mentoring experience, although I would be comfortable to ask for his advice and guidance even if it were more difficult to obtain,” Smith wrote in nominating Kesden for the tenure-track award.
“We have either a formal meeting or scheduled lunch chat at least once a month, which has helped my professional development and provided a platform for open, unfiltered feedback and discussions on various aspects of academia, including service, teaching and student advising.”
Kesden liked having such organic opportunities to share what it was like for him when he arrived at UT Dallas in 2013 and was teaching for the first time.
“Having faced that challenge myself, I was happy to share the practical wisdom I had picked up over the years,” he said. “He is already a super-talented researcher. We wouldn’t have brought him here if he wasn’t.
“I don’t think I necessarily provided for him so much on that front, on the technical side of things. But just filling him in how things work here at UTD, how the policies are made, what the expectations are for mid-probationary review and tenure – I’ve tried to help him in that respect.”
But he didn’t stop there. He set up a colloquium visit to a nearby university and invited Smith to be a speaker at the Texas Astroparticle and Cosmology Symposium (TACOS) at Rice University. They even are co-principal investigators on an astrophysics project.
All in a day’s work for the personable Kesden. “I was myself,” he said. He certainly didn’t expect an award for it.
“It was a complete surprise to me,” he said. “I’m not the kind of person who goes out there lobbying for awards. I was unaware there was any effort whatsoever to do this until I was informed that I actually got the award. I’m gratified.”