About the Award

Graduate advising and mentoring are vital for guiding students through their degrees and professional development, while also helping to ensure their overall success and well-being. Graduate Studies is launching a series of new graduate advising and mentoring initiatives to promote and develop good mentoring for graduate students. We have created the Graduate Program Advising and Mentoring Awards to provide graduate programs with an easy way to recognize faculty doing outstanding service in advising and mentoring at the program level.

Each graduate program may reward one faculty member who has shown an outstanding commitment to advising and/or mentoring. This is an optional recognition program and graduate programs can participate at will.  The deadline to nominate is June 24, 2024.

• Nominations
• Graduate programs can design the nomination and review process based on what is feasible and equitable for their program, but it should be managed by the Graduate Program Chair (who should therefore not be selected).  It might be easiest for Chairs to email graduate students and faculty soliciting nominations for the award. The call can ask for a brief summary of the achievements, service, and qualities of the nominee. Chairs can then select the faculty member they wish to recognize and/or ask a committee to review submissions.  Nominees should show excellence in the advising or mentoring of graduate students within the graduate program and abide by the UC Davis Principles of Community.
  
  Chairs decide on a nomination and/or review process for the program. 
  • Will faculty and/or students nominate faculty?
  • How will faculty be evaluated?  Who will make the final decision?
    
  We strongly recommend that graduate programs create a transparent process for selecting their awardee.
  
  The nominee should be a member of the graduate program and meet Service on Advanced Degree Committees eligibility. 
  The 2024 nominee cannot be an awardee from a previous year.
  
  The Chair will draft a short (one-page) nomination letter that includes comments from graduate students and colleagues, along with additional demonstrations of commitment to advising and mentoring. Upload the nomination letter on this page by June 24, 2024. 
  
  All mentors are expected to abide by and support the UC Davis Principles of Community. Graduate Studies will review the nomination in consultation with Academic Affairs. If a nominee is found to be under investigation for a purported violation of University Policy, an award may not be granted and or/ revoked.
  
  All awardees will receive a letter of recognition, copied to his or her chair. 
• Benefits to Faculty Member
• • Program recognition for service.
  • Letter of recognition from the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies that can be included in merit/promotion files.
  • Documented advising and mentoring service for grant applications or other faculty development opportunities.