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