Early Career Teachers’ Network

Master Teacher Mentoring Program

The INFORMS Committee on Teaching and Learning (CTL) is proud to solicit applications from potential mentees and mentors for the fourth class of the INFORMS Early Career Teachers’ Network (ECTN) Master Teacher Mentoring Program. The goal of ECTN is to support doctoral students in the job search process for teaching-stream positions and develop master OR/MS/Analytics teachers. For the purposes of ECTN, “teaching-stream position” will be either of the following:

1. A teaching-focused position at a research university
2. A position at a university that has historically focused on teaching

(Doctoral students targeting research-teaching balanced universities or junior faculty at research-teaching balanced universities may also apply.)

There are two components to the ECTN:

1. ECTN Workshop: The ECTN Workshop is a pre-conference workshop prior to the INFORMS Annual Meeting. This year’s ECTN Workshop will be held in person on Saturday, October 14, 2023, prior to the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting. During the ECTN Workshop, participants will meet their fellow ECTN participants to begin forming an ECTN community and learn the basics of constructing high-quality learning experiences for students. Workshop participants will also be introduced to their ECTN mentors to kickstart the mentoring process.
2. ECTN Project: Each ECTN participant will be paired with an INFORMS member mentor that has spent considerable time in a teaching-stream position. The ECTN participant will work with his/her ECTN mentor on one or more teaching projects (creating a new course, publishing an OR/MS/Analytics case study, or other forms of collaboration) while the mentor provides the participant with feedback and suggestions to improve the participant’s teaching. ECTN participants and mentors will meet virtually as a group one or possibly several times a year.

ECTN participants (mentees), as part of the selection process, will be paired with an ECTN INFORMS member mentee from a different institution.

ECTN program goals:

1. Produce master OR/MS/Analytics teachers
2. Increase the chance that ECTN participants obtain teaching-stream roles or achieve tenure and/or promotion

Program requirements:

1. Applicants/Participants:
   1. Currently in the last two years of PhD program and plans to focus on a teaching stream career or received a PhD within the last three years and has accepted or holds a teaching stream position
   2. CV
   3. Teaching statement
   4. Letter of interest highlighting their goals for the next year and what they hope to achieve by joining ECTN.
   5. Commitment to attend ECTN Workshop for 2023 (must register for the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting)
2. Mentors:
   1. CV
      1. 5+ years in a OR/MS/Analytics teaching-stream role
      2. Demonstrated commitment to OR/MS/Analytics teaching
      3. Commitment to serve as an ECTN mentor for at least 1 year
      4. Commitment to attend ECTN Workshop for 2023 (must register for the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting)

Selected ECTN mentees and mentors are expected to register and attend the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting (the deadline for speakers to register is August 1). Both mentors and mentees will be given a certificate of completion after the workshop.

Questions? Email Nazli Turken (nturken1@jhu.edu).
Want to apply? Submit your applications through this link or to nturken1@jhu.edu by 11:59 PM ET on June 15, 2023.