As a campus community, we recognize the transformative impact that mentors can have on graduate students’ experiences at Berkeley, their well-being, and their academic success, especially in these challenging times. To recognize both our faculty and our graduate students who provide important mentorship, the Graduate Division and the Graduate Assembly sponsor three awards that recognize outstanding mentoring of graduate students by faculty members, as well as one award to recognize the outstanding peer mentorship of current graduate and professional students. 

Nominations for all four awards are being accepted through Friday, February 16, 2024. Award recipients will be recognized in April 2024 in a joint celebration.  

Graduate Division Mentoring Awards

Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Awards

The Graduate Division is accepting nominations for the Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Awards that honor early-career and late-career 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, February 16, 2024, 11:59 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 Award for Outstanding Mentorship of GSIs

The Graduate Council’s Advisory Committee for GSI Affairs and the Graduate Division’s GSI Teaching & Resource Center invite nominations for the 2024 Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentorship of GSIs. This award recognizes faculty (including both Senate and non-Senate faculty) who have provided GSIs outstanding mentorship in teaching at Berkeley and in preparing for teaching in future careers. 

Nominations are sought directly from current and former GSIs. Nomination criteria and procedures can be found on the GSI Teaching & Resource Center website. The deadline for nominations is Friday, February 16, 2024, 11:59 p.m.

Graduate Assembly Mentoring Awards

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 of $500 each to selected mentors every year.

The primary nominator must be a current graduate student or recent graduate (graduated no earlier than May 2022) who has directly benefited from some aspect of the candidate’s mentoring or advising. Associate nominators can include undergraduates and postdocs, and nomination letters can be jointly written. 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, February 16, 2024, 11:59 p.m.

Outstanding Graduate Peer Mentor Award

The UC Berkeley Graduate Assembly’s Graduate Student Peer Mentor Award honors Berkeley graduate and professional students who have shown an outstanding commitment to mentoring, advising, and generally supporting undergraduate students and/or their fellow graduate students. The Graduate Assembly will present four awards of $1,000 each to selected graduate peer mentors each year. Although only one nomination letter is required for a mentor to be considered for the award, we encourage nominators to reach out to others to provide supplemental letters of nomination.

All nominators must complete this form. The primary nominator must be a current graduate student or recent graduate (graduated no earlier than May 2022). Associate nominators can include postdocs, faculty, staff, or consist of jointly written letters. 

For eligibility requirements and selection criteria please visit the Graduate Student Peer Mentor Awards page. The deadline for nominations is Friday, February 16, 2024, 11:59 p.m.

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