To recognize and encourage the efforts of graduate students who serve as effective mentors, the Graduate Division of UC Santa Barbara presents two annual awards for students who have distinguished themselves in the area of undergraduate research supervision.
Fiona and Michael Goodchild Graduate Mentoring Award
&
Carol Genetti Graduate Mentoring Award
The purpose of these awards is threefold:
- To recognize graduate students who have distinguished themselves as mentors of undergraduates
- To acknowledge campus initiatives to improve the educational experience of undergraduates and graduate students by integrating research into undergraduate education at UCSB
- To encourage others to become involved in these research efforts
These awards are important examples of the Graduate Division’s ongoing efforts to promote a culture of mentoring.
The 2024 nomination cycle is now closed
Nominations for the next cycle will open Spring 2025.
Click each section below to find out more:
Four recipients of the Fiona and Michael Goodchild Graduate Mentoring Award and four recipients of the Carol Genetti Graduate Mentoring Award will receive $1000 each (eight awards in all). Selections are made by a subcommittee formed by the Academic Senate Graduate Council.
The Fiona and Michael Goodchild Graduate Mentoring Award is available to students in the College of Engineering; Mathematical, Life, and Physical Sciences Division of the College of Letters and Science; and the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. The Carol Genetti Graduate Mentoring Award is available to students in the Humanities and Fine Arts and Social Sciences Divisions of the College of Letters and Science and the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education. Both awards are open to currently enrolled graduate students in good academic standing who mentor at least one undergraduate. Nominees must be registered during the award period (spring quarter) of the year they are nominated.
NOTE: Previous award recipients are not eligible to receive the award in subsequent years.
The Graduate Division invites up to two (2) nominations from each academic department to be considered for the mentoring award. Departments should internally coordinate their selections, and nominations must be submitted by the department chair or faculty graduate program advisor. For programs and institutes not housed in academic departments but who wish to nominate a student, please coordinate recommendations through the student's home department.
Graduate students are evaluated on the overall impact of their mentoring efforts rather than the total number of students they have supervised. Because of the diverse nature of mentoring in different disciplines, slightly different criteria are used to evaluate candidates for each award.
Each nomination packet must include:
- A nomination letter from a faculty mentor, program director, or program coordinator (maximum length: two pages)
- A nomination letter from an undergraduate mentee of the nominee (maximum length: two pages); this letter should describe a research project or course in which the nominee and the undergraduate mentee were involved
- A statement from the graduate student nominee (maximum length: two pages) discussing the relevance of the mentoring experience on their own education and future career plans
These documents should be compiled and uploaded as a single PDF.
- Has the graduate student demonstrated effectiveness in supervising an undergraduate researcher?
- How much time and interest has the graduate student invested in introducing undergraduate students to experimental and investigative research?
- How has the graduate student developed supervisory strategies that are effective in motivating students to achieve success in undergraduate research?
- What is the subsequent record of undergraduate students who have worked under the supervision of this graduate student?
- Overall, what distinguishes this graduate student as a departmental or program nominee for one of these awards?
- Has the graduate student demonstrated effectiveness in mentoring an undergraduate student or group of students?
- How much time and interest has the graduate student invested in introducing undergraduate students to scholarly activities at a research university?
- How has the graduate student developed mentoring strategies that are effective in motivating students to achieve success in scholarly activities at a research university?
- What are the subsequent achievements of undergraduate students who have worked under the mentorship of this graduate student?
- Overall, what distinguishes this graduate student as a departmental or program nominee for one of these awards?
For questions, please contact Anna Theogarajan, Assistant Director of Professional Development for the Graduate Division.