UC Davis faculty and their graduate students receive $10,000 mentoring fellowships

UC Davis Graduate Studies has selected four UC Davis professors and their students as the recipients of this year's Wakeham Mentoring Fellowships, an honor given to faculty and their mentees to support the exploration of mentoring best practices. 

Formerly referred to as the MCT Wakeham Fellowship, the Wakeham Mentoring Fellowship Program is an annual award competition for UC Davis academic mentors. Up to five $10,000 fellowships are awarded annually for mentors to help support one or more of their graduate student mentees. In preparation to apply for the Wakeham Mentoring Fellowship, mentors were asked to attend three or more mentoring-related workshops or comparable events during the 2018-2019 academic year. The workshops focused on a variety of topics, ranging from holistic review best practices to bullying. 

The 2019-2020 Wakeham Mentoring Fellowship recipients include:

Maureen Kinyua

Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Proposal Title:

“Development of a Mentoring Curriculum to Promote Scholarship, Productivity and Communication Skills in Underrepresented and International Graduate Students”

Graduate Students:

Yihan Zhang (Ph.D. student, Civil and Environmental Engineering)
Gandhar Pandit (Ph.D. student, Civil and Environmental Engineering)

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Lorena Oropeza

Professor of History

Proposal Title:

“Mapping a Future Career in History”

Graduate Students:

Sean Gallagher (Ph.D. student, History)
Ellie Kaplan (Ph.D. student, History)
Vanessa Lauchland (Ph.D. student, History)
Charlotte Terry (Ph.D. student, History)

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José Juan Pérez Meléndez

Assistant Professor, Department of History

Marian Schlotterbeck

Associate Professor, Department of History

Proposal Title:

“A Space at the Table: Professionalization through Workshop, Networking, and Event Planning in the Social Sciences"

Graduate Students:

Renzo Aroni (Ph.D. student, History)
Julio Aguilar (Ph.D. student, History)
Priscilla Cisternas (Ph.D. student, History)
Joel Olea-Calixto (Ph.D. student, History)
José Alejandro Rentería (Ph.D. student, History)
Viridiana Hernández (Ph.D. student, History)
Génesis Lara (Ph.D. student, History)
Manoel Rendeiro Neto (Ph.D. student, History)
Lucía Luna Victoria Indacochea (Ph.D. student, History)
Celeste Navas (Ph.D. student, History)
Francisco Ulloa (Ph.D. student, History)

This year, Graduate Studies will continue to host, sponsor, and promote workshops and seminars focused on topics pertaining to faculty-graduate student mentorship. On October 2, Graduate Studies and Academic Affairs will co-present a seminar for UC Davis faculty titled "Graduate Students and Mental Health: The Role of the Mentor." 

Graduate Studies is also assessing new ways to better share mentoring best practices and resources with the graduate education community.  As such, the mentoring workgroup in Graduate Studies will explore new models for the Wakeham Mentoring Fellowship in the 2020-2021 academic year and beyond. New criteria for Wakeham Mentoring Fellowship proposals will be announced in the coming year.

For more information about the Wakeham Mentoring Fellowship, visit the Graduate Studies mentoring page or email Elizabeth Lambert, director of communications and strategic planning and mentoring workgroup member, at eflambert@ucdavis.edu.

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About Graduate Studies

Graduate Studies at UC Davis includes over 100 dynamic degree programs and a diverse and interactive student body from around the world. Known for our state-of-the-art research facilities, productive laboratories and progressive spirit – UC Davis offers collaborative and interdisciplinary curricula through graduate groups and designated emphasis options, bringing students and faculty of different academic disciplines together to address real-world challenges.

UC Davis graduate students and postdoctoral scholars become leaders in their fields: researchers, teachers, politicians, mentors and entrepreneurs. They go on to guide, define and impact change within our global community.

For information on Graduate Studies’ current strategic initiatives, visit the Graduate Studies strategic plan page.