Outstanding mentorship plays a vital role in the success of undergraduate researchers while fostering a collaborative and supportive academic community. To recognize graduate students who demonstrate exceptional mentorship, the UC Santa Barbara Graduate Division presents the Graduate Student Mentorship Awards.

The awards celebrate graduate students who have made a meaningful impact through their guidance, leadership, and commitment to mentoring undergraduate researchers. It also reflects UCSB's commitment to integrating research into undergraduate education and fostering a culture of mentorship that enriches the educational experience of both undergraduate and graduate students.

The 2027 nomination cycle will open in February.

Calls for nominations are sent campus-wide to department and student inboxes.

Nomination Form

Click each section below to find out more:

Recipients of the Graduate Mentoring Award will receive $1000 for each awardee. 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:

  1. A nomination letter from a faculty mentor, program director, or program coordinator (maximum length: two pages)
  2. 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
  3. 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, Director of Professional Development for the Graduate Division.