As a campus community, we recognize the transformative impact faculty mentors can have on the well-being, academic success, and overall experience of graduate students, especially in these challenging times. To recognize our faculty who do this best, the Graduate Division and the Graduate Assembly sponsor two awards that recognize outstanding mentoring of graduate students by faculty members.

Nominations for the Graduate Division’s Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Awards and the Graduate Assembly’s Faculty Mentor Award are being accepted now through Friday, January 29, 2021. The winners will be recognized in March 2021 at a virtual ceremony.

Carol D. Soc Awards

The Graduate Division is accepting nominations for the Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Awards honoring junior and senior faculty members who exemplify UC Berkeley’s best practices for graduate mentoring.

The awards — $2,500 each — are funded by a generous donation from the estate of Carol D. Soc, a longtime staff member of the Graduate Division.

The nomination and selection procedures are explained here:

Nomination letters must be received electronically by Friday, January 29, 2021, 5 p.m. Nominators should signify their intent to nominate using this form. They will then be invited to a Box folder to submit a formal nomination.   

Faculty Mentor Award

The UC Berkeley Graduate Assembly Faculty Mentor Award honors members of the Berkeley faculty and teaching staff who have shown an outstanding commitment to mentoring, advising, and supporting graduate students. The Graduate Assembly presents three awards to selected mentors every year.

The primary nominator must be a current graduate student or recent graduate (May 2020 or later) who has directly benefited from some aspect of the candidate’s mentoring or advising. Associate nominators can include undergraduates, postdocs, or consist of jointly written letters. Each nominator must submit their letter of nomination through this form.

For more information about the award and how to nominate a faculty member, visit the Graduate Assembly website. The deadline for nominations is Friday, January 29, 2021, 11:59 p.m.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to nominate a mentor who deserves this special recognition.