Graduate Dean Fiona Doyle addresses the crowd gathered at the Graduate Mentoring Awards Ceremony on April 12, 2018.

Carolina Reid gets up to receive her award.

Carolina Reid IS awesome and hates pie charts. Assistant Professor Reid is a winner of the Faculty Mentor Award for 2018.

Carolina Reid, Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning and Faculty Mentor Award Winner 2018.

Carolina Reid (Faculty Mentor Award Winner), Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning, celebrates with her graduate students at the Graduate Mentoring Awards.

Sara L. Beckman, Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering and Haas School of Business.

Sara L. Beckman, Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering and Haas School of Business celebrates with colleagues and friends.

Marla Feller surrounded by her graduate students. This year she received the Faculty Mentor Award from the Graduate Assembly.

Marla Feller, Professor of Neurobiology and Faculty Mentor Award winner 2018 enjoys time with her colleagues at the Graduate Mentoring Awards Ceremony.

Britt Glaunsinger and her graduate students and family celebrate the 2018 Graduate Mentoring Awards.

Britt Glaunsinger is a Professor of Plant and Microbial Biology and winner of the 2018 Faculty Mentor Award.

Aila Matanock, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Graduate Mentoring Awards Ceremony 2018. She is this year’s Carol D. Soc Award winner for junior faculty.

Aila Matanock, Assistant Professor of Political Science with her graduate students at the Graduate Mentoring Awards Ceremony 2018.


On April 12, 2018, the 12th annual Graduate Mentoring Awards Ceremony honored five faculty members with the Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Award and the Graduate Assembly Faculty Mentor Award. More than 100 students, faculty, and staff attended the annual event at Anna Head Alumnae Hall.

Shreyas Patankar, Campus Affairs Vice President of the Graduate Assembly, and Fiona Doyle, Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate Division, presented the awards to the recipients — chosen from 58 faculty nominees — who exemplify the values and best practices of effective mentoring on campus.

Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Awards

The Carol D. Soc Mentoring Award is funded by a generous bequest from the estate of Carol Soc, a long-time employee of the Graduate Division. The award aims to recognize and foster the qualities of excellence in mentorship that are central to the Berkeley community. This year’s winners, nominated and selected by faculty peers, are:

Sara L. Beckman, Senior Lecturer, Haas School of Business and Mechanical Engineering, was honored as the Senior Faculty winner. One of the nominators noted that Professor Beckman “electrifies her students with possibility” and “She wants you to produce great research of the highest Berkeley standard, and because she is working alongside you to improve your work.”

Aila Matanock, Assistant Professor, Political Science, was honored as the Junior Faculty winner. She is an inspiration to her students, with one stating that she “always recognizes my potential and helped me go above and beyond what I thought I was capable of achieving.”


Graduate Assembly Faculty Mentor Awards

Now in its 14th year, the Faculty Mentor Award, sponsored by the Graduate Assembly, honors faculty who have shown an outstanding commitment to mentoring, advising and supporting graduate students to succeed academically, professionally, and personally. Nominated by current and former graduate students and faculty colleagues, this year’s winners are:

Marla Feller, Professor, Neurobiology  One of the nominators stated: “Marla exudes an air of diligence and serious compassion to all who surround her — a testament to her dedication as a scientist and academic.”

Britt Glaunsinger, Professor, Plant and Microbial Biology  Student nominees noted: “She encourages curiosity and exploration while ensuring that we don’t lose sight of the ultimate goal.”

Carolina Reid, Assistant Professor, City and Regional Planning — Student nominees wrote: “In addition to Carolina’s exceptional teaching, her commitment to her students outside of the classroom was always readily evident” and “Carolina’s mentorship impact clearly extends beyond her students, since the people she instructs are subsequently equipped to change the world for the better via their professional work.”

Congratulations to these outstanding mentors for their inspirational work with Berkeley’s graduate students!


Photographs by Kelley Cox