The Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award recognizes exemplary mentoring of doctoral and/or masters' students by members of the UI graduate faculty.
To be eligible, a mentor must have been a member of the UI graduate faculty for at least 5 years and have a record of mentoring students to completion.
Nominations must come from a faculty member in the nominee's department. The following are required as part of the nomination: :
- A nomination letter that addresses these criteria
- A nominee's statement of mentoring philosophy (no more than 1 double space page)
- The nominee's current CV
- The nominee's list of current/past doctoral students and/or masters' students advised at the University of Iowa, organized by year of graduation.
- Two letters of recommendation from the nominee's graduate students: one from a current graduate student, and one from a student who has graduated.
Nominations should be submitted online. Nomination letters are due February 3, 2025 at 5 p.m.
Each award recipient will receive $2,500.
Questions
- Ana M. Rodriguez-Rodriguez (353-2361, ana-m-rodriguez@uiowa.edu)
Criteria for Selection
Broadly defined, a mentor is someone who takes a special interest in helping another person develop professionally. An effective mentoring relationship is characterized by mutual respect, trust, understanding, and empathy.
In its 1995 publication "A Conversation About Mentoring: Trends and Models," the Council of Graduate Schools cites Morris Zelditch's summary of a mentor's multiple roles:
"Mentors are advisors, people with career experience willing to share their knowledge; supporters, people who give emotional and moral encouragement; tutors, people who give specific feedback on one's performance; masters, in the sense of employers to whom one is apprenticed; sponsors, sources of information about and aid in obtaining opportunities; models, of identity, of the kind of person one should be to be an academic."
The intent of the Graduate College Outstanding Mentor Award is to reward excellence in a wide variety of mentoring functions.
To be eligible, a mentor must have been a member of the UI graduate faculty for at least 5 years and have a record of mentoring students to completion
The following criteria are intended as general guidelines for the Award Committee.
Excellent research/scholarly work guidance
- Thesis or dissertation direction
- Guidance on non-thesis research or scholarly work
- Assistance in developing conference papers, publishable works, and/or public scholarship
General assistance to graduate students
- General coursework advising
- Advocacy and conflict resolution
Impact on students individually, and as a group
- Providing opportunities for students to present their work outside of class
- Supporting student attendance at professional meetings
- Nurturing and supporting students from a variety of backgrounds
- Organizing and participating in programs to orient new graduate students
Preparation for career decision making and advancement
- Development of professional preparation materials
- Organization of professional preparation workshops
- Individual job search advising
- Preparation of students for job interviews
- Support of student progress/development after graduation.