Celebrate Mentorship at Cal for 2026!

Dear Campus Community,

We are thrilled to announce the 2026 recipients of the Graduate Division’s Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Awards and Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentorship of GSIs, as well as the Graduate Assembly’s Faculty Mentor Awards and Outstanding Graduate Peer Mentor Award.

Excellent mentorship has a transformative effect on our graduate students’ well-being, academic success, and overall experience, and even more so in these challenging times. It is something to be celebrated and acknowledged. The following award recipients have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to helping UC Berkeley graduate students to succeed academically, professionally, and personally.

These outstanding faculty and graduate students will be honored on Thursday, April 16 from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. at the Alumni House, Toll Room. We hope you will join us to recognize their accomplishments. 

2026 Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Awards
Early-Career Faculty Winner

• Maya Carrasquillo, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  

Late-Career Faculty Winner

• Steven Conolly, Montford G. Cook Endowed Chair and Professor, Department of Bioengineering and Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

2026 Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentorship of GSIs

• Grace Erny, Assistant Professor, Department of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies
• Ricarda Hammer, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology
• Hillel David Soifer, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science

2026 Graduate Assembly Faculty Mentor Awards

• Alison Post, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
• Jason Ryder, Executive Director of Master of Bioprocess Engineering Program and Adjunct Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
• Ian Wang, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management

2026 Outstanding Graduate Peer Mentor Award

• Leen Arnaout, PhD Candidate, UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Program in Bioengineering
• Zhe Fu, PhD Candidate, Transportation Engineering and M.S. Candidate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences
• Carlos Ng Pitti, PhD Candidate, UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Program in Bioengineering
• Emily Fjaellen Thompson, PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology

These distinguished individuals, nominated by faculty colleagues and current and former graduate students and undergraduates, were selected from a pool of exceptional Berkeley faculty and graduate students. They exemplify the values and best practices of effective mentoring that are core to our university community and mission. 

We hope to see you at the ceremony on April 16, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. at the Toll Room!

Sincerely,

Lisa García Bedolla
Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Hitchcock Dean of the Graduate Division

Sandra Oseguera Sotomayor
President of the Graduate Assembly

Benjamin E. Hermalin
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost

Victoria C. Plaut
Vice Provost for Faculty

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