Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular and Development Biology (BMCDB) graduate program coordinator Alyssa Parsons, ’12 was recently honored with the 2023 Outstanding Graduate Program Coordinator award by Graduate Studies.

This award recognizes UC Davis graduate program coordinators who demonstrate initiative beyond their programs and contribute to campus- or systemwide improvements in graduate education.

“Alyssa believes that being a graduate coordinator is an opportunity to be a conduit that connects so many roles, experiences, and opportunities together,” said one of her nominators. “She sees each day as a chance to positively impact someone's life and approaches each interaction as a chance to make that individual feel respected, connected and affirmed.”

 

We sat down to talk with Alyssa about her thoughts on the current state of graduate education and what this award means to her.

You have a unique perspective on graduate education. Can you tell us about your background and what drew you to this position?

I’m a first-generation college student, but I’ve known since I was very young that I wanted to be involved in higher education. When I was a kid going to summer camp at Sonoma State, I remember thinking “I want to be in college forever,” and I guess that mindset really stuck!

It wasn’t until I was a junior in undergrad that I got an opportunity to actually work towards a career in academia, though – that came along when I felt a little lost in my career path, and I worked up the courage to reach out to the most engaging instructor I’d had so far, Ross Thompson. He’s the person who first showed me what a career in research could be like, and my experience in his lab led me to apply to Ph.D. programs.

I wound up enrolling in the Human Development and Family Studies Ph.D. program at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and I can’t speak highly enough of the community there – they really cared about me as a person, not just as an academic, and that’s ended up informing a lot of my work with people here at Davis. I really excelled at coursework, I was a good writer, and I loved collecting data on home visits and working in the classroom, but I found myself struggling as the years went by.

There were a lot of external factors that contributed to my mental health crisis; I lost my home in the Tubbs fire just as I was preparing for my qualifying exam, and I was diagnosed with ADHD the following year and told very firmly that medication was not an option for me. I was struggling more and more every year, and my dissertation committee members were so supportive of me emotionally, but it was getting harder to face the fact that I wasn’t getting any writing or data analysis done. And eventually it got to the point where I was told, in such a kind and gentle way, that the department could no longer support me financially.

As I started looking for adjunct teaching and advising jobs, I realized almost immediately that I wanted to be back at Davis. And, very luckily, the first call I saw listed on the jobs website was for a graduate coordinator. I didn’t even think that I could end up specifically advising graduate students. And it was all I wanted to do from the moment I saw the position description.

I loved working with undergraduates, but I knew that I had an opportunity to help students through the same sorts of crises that had happened to me, and maybe even a chance to help stop them from happening. It was very powerful for me to realize that I could take this experience of leaving my program – something I was still trying very hard not to frame as a failure – and build it into a basis for empathizing with people and encouraging them.

It was very powerful for me to realize that I could take this experience of leaving my [Ph.D.] program... and build it into a basis for empathizing with people and encouraging them.

 

According to your award nominators, you are driven by a strong set of values that shows up throughout your work. What advice do you have for others who are looking to be better advocates for graduate students?

Remember that your students are whole human beings, and you don’t have to engage with them solely in their capacity as students. Every advisor is going to bring their own interpersonal style to how they interact with their students, but I’m always trying to remember that mine have so much more going on in their lives than just their research. I like to ask about their non-academic accomplishments. I let them know that their families and friends are welcome at our social events and celebrations of their academic achievements. I try to learn about their cultural backgrounds and meet them where they are as people. That’s gone a long way, I think, in helping my students feel heard and understood.

One other important thing to remember is that you are not an island. I got very, very lucky in terms of which graduate group I ended up working for — most of the College of Biological Sciences’ graduate coordinators share an office, which not all coordinators do, and I’ve been able to rely on my colleagues Sam Arcement, Amanda Haydon, and Najwa Marrush for help and emotional support. I also want to shout out GSAC, the Graduate Studies Advisory Committee. They’re a resource and support network for coordinators across the campus, and even though our jobs are all a little different, we all contribute to each other’s institutional knowledge.

Whether it’s by building an awareness of the campus offices that exist to help students out, helping your students build a greater network of peer and faculty support, or getting to know your counterparts at other UC campuses to see what knowledge they have to offer you, you always have opportunities to expand on what you know. And if you bring that knowledge to your students, you can empower them to advocate for themselves, and you can show them that you’ve got their back.

...you always have opportunities to expand on what you know.

 

What do you want prospective students to know about the BMCDB program and UC Davis as a whole?

I can’t help but be biased, but I really do think BMCDB is home to some of the best students on this campus. They’re involved with campus- and community-level initiatives such as SACNAS, they lead a thriving diversity, equity, and inclusion committee, and they care about each other. I see them advocate for themselves and their fellow students, and it really makes me proud to work for them.

I also love how interdisciplinary BMCDB is – our students work in labs housed in 34 departments, across all four colleges and two professional schools. We have a program culture of deep commitment to student success, and that’s been really important to me, given my own experiences as a student.

I also think there’s something uniquely special about Davis and the university that’s hard to pin down; it’s a place where people come and they want to stay, or they leave and they want to come back. I ended up touring the campus as a high school senior on what turned out to be the day after Picnic Day. Campus was so quiet, and there was barely anyone around besides our tour group. In a matter of minutes, I just fell in love. We were barely out of the Alumni Center when I found myself thinking, “I want to be here. I’m meant to be here.” It’s a place where we’re constantly striving to encourage each other’s excellence and wellness, and that’s always been very meaningful to me.

UC Davis is a place where we’re constantly striving to encourage each other’s excellence and wellness, and that’s always been very meaningful to me.

What does this award mean to you?

I wish I could go back two years in time and tell my past self that I’d received it. At the time, I was so ashamed of myself for having to leave my Ph.D. program, and I knew how acutely I was suffering, and I was so uncertain of what the future held for me. But to have been here for about a year and a half, and to have received this award as well as the GSA Outstanding Staff Member Award in that time, shows me just how much I’ve thrown my heart and soul into this work.

On my way home from the Advising Graduate Students Conference, where I was presented with this award, I walked by the Manetti Shrem Museum and saw this beautiful quote lit up in neon: “This present moment used to be the unimaginable future.” And it spoke to me so much – I had to stop and really take stock of the incredible gift this job has been, and all of the people whose love and support and guidance have brought me here, even through the difficulties I couldn’t have imagined when I set out on this pathway to academia. This award means the world to me, but the work I get to do earning it – that’s the best gift. It’s all I could have ever hoped for.

 

Congratulations, Alyssa! Thank you for your commitment to inclusive graduate education. Your hard work plays an integral role in the success and well-being of UC Davis grad students.