Ken Mahru, Director of Graduate Student Funding After a long vacancy in the role, we are thrilled to announce Ken Mahru as our new Director of Student Funding; his responsibilities include the oversight of the Fellowships and Appointments units. Ken worked in the Graduate Opportunity Program many years ago and returned to the Graduate Division after service as an undergraduate advisor in English for many years and then moved into graduate advising as the English GSAO. He later served as the History GSAO before discovering an interest in management and funding operational leadership which informed our selection of him after a national search with highly qualified candidates. In his short time at the Graduate Division, Ken’s experience and perspective as a GSAO, and his student-centered approach is already serving us well. Ken will be taking the lead on several critical projects in the coming year including refinements of the Five Year Funding initiative, rollout of new Fellowships and Appointments Exceptions eForms and, later in the year and early next, the implementation of a major awarding and commitment tracking tool for all student funding. Ken lives in Oakland with his wife, two cats and dog. He likes buying vinyl from bandcamp.com so he can also listen to the albums digitally. He is currently finishing Walter Mosely’s Easy Rawlins mysteries and is in the middle of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. He is taking guitar lessons to improve his playing. Ksenia Sidorenko, Academic Conduct and UAW Grievance Specialist We are overdue in announcing a special new staff member that joined our team this past Fall. Ksenia Sidorenko is the inaugural Academic Conduct and UAW Grievance Specialist for the Graduate Division. Ksenia comes to us from Yale University where she served as the Deputy Title IX Coordinator for Yale College. Prior to that Ksenia worked in a staff role as Title IX Program Administrator for Yale University, and as a student leader in the Graduate Student Assembly at Yale, and a student fellow in Graduate Career Services. Ksenia will complete her PhD in Comparative Literature with a certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, in Fall 2022; her experience as a graduate student and as a staff member at Yale will help inform her work with both faculty and students as she serves in both parts of her role: to support the academic integrity of our graduate students, and to support the campus’s academic student employees in ensuring that their workload and demands meet the requirements of the bargaining agreement. Outside of her role, Ksenia enjoys reading 19th century novels, listening to live music, and trying new and exciting foods. She’s especially looking forward to exploring the produce sections in the Bay Area’s grocery stores.
Ken Mahru, Director of Graduate Student Funding After a long vacancy in the role, we are thrilled to announce Ken Mahru as our new Director of Student Funding; his responsibilities include the oversight of the Fellowships and Appointments units. Ken worked in the Graduate Opportunity Program many years ago and returned to the Graduate Division after service as an undergraduate advisor in English for many years and then moved into graduate advising as the English GSAO. He later served as the History GSAO before discovering an interest in management and funding operational leadership which informed our selection of him after a national search with highly qualified candidates. In his short time at the Graduate Division, Ken’s experience and perspective as a GSAO, and his student-centered approach is already serving us well. Ken will be taking the lead on several critical projects in the coming year including refinements of the Five Year Funding initiative, rollout of new Fellowships and Appointments Exceptions eForms and, later in the year and early next, the implementation of a major awarding and commitment tracking tool for all student funding. Ken lives in Oakland with his wife, two cats and dog. He likes buying vinyl from bandcamp.com so he can also listen to the albums digitally. He is currently finishing Walter Mosely’s Easy Rawlins mysteries and is in the middle of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. He is taking guitar lessons to improve his playing. Ksenia Sidorenko, Academic Conduct and UAW Grievance Specialist We are overdue in announcing a special new staff member that joined our team this past Fall. Ksenia Sidorenko is the inaugural Academic Conduct and UAW Grievance Specialist for the Graduate Division. Ksenia comes to us from Yale University where she served as the Deputy Title IX Coordinator for Yale College. Prior to that Ksenia worked in a staff role as Title IX Program Administrator for Yale University, and as a student leader in the Graduate Student Assembly at Yale, and a student fellow in Graduate Career Services. Ksenia will complete her PhD in Comparative Literature with a certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, in Fall 2022; her experience as a graduate student and as a staff member at Yale will help inform her work with both faculty and students as she serves in both parts of her role: to support the academic integrity of our graduate students, and to support the campus’s academic student employees in ensuring that their workload and demands meet the requirements of the bargaining agreement. Outside of her role, Ksenia enjoys reading 19th century novels, listening to live music, and trying new and exciting foods. She’s especially looking forward to exploring the produce sections in the Bay Area’s grocery stores.