The Graduate School is pleased to invite nominations for the Faculty Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring, which recognizes faculty who demonstrate exceptional commitment to supporting the growth, success, and well-being of UW–Madison graduate students. This award highlights faculty whose engagement goes beyond standard advising expectations and reflects exemplary, evidence-based mentoring practices.
Nomination deadline: Friday, February 13, 2026
Eligibility
- UW–Madison tenure track faculty, clinical health sciences track (CHS) faculty, or research professors are eligible.
- Nominees should have (or recently have had) responsibility for mentoring and working closely with UW–Madison graduate students in an independent learning environment.
- Nominees may come from any discipline, provided they mentor graduate students in a scholarly activity.
- Nominees should regularly demonstrate several of the practices and attributes listed below in the “Nominee Info & Evaluation Criteria” section.
Nominee Information and Evaluation Criteria
Selections will be based on evidence that the nominee displays effective mentoring practices, including but not limited to the following characteristics:
- Intentional: Effective mentors take time to reflect on and nurture their mentoring relationships. They may have developed their intentional practice through programs like Advancing Research Mentor Practice (ARMP), Research Mentor Training, or similar evidence-based curricula, including the use of expectation agreements or other tools to align expectations.
- Mentee-Focused: Effective mentors prioritize their mentees’ professional development, goals, health, and well-being.
- Inclusive: Effective mentors listen, reflect, and engage in practices that promote equity, adapting their behavior as needed to foster an inclusive environment.
- Responsive: Effective mentors listen attentively and respond thoughtfully to their mentees’ ideas, suggestions, and concerns.
- Reciprocating: Effective mentors contribute actively to mentoring relationships and value their mentees’ contributions.
- Evolving: Effective mentors continuously reassess and realign expectations as relationships evolve over time.
Demonstrated Evidence for Successful Mentor Award Application
- Contribution to Graduate Student Scholarly Development. Nominees should show a strong record of fostering students’ academic and research growth. Evidence may include guiding rigorous research projects, supporting high-quality scholarly output (e.g., publications, presentations, creative works), encouraging independent thinking, and helping students build skills to excel in their fields.
- Efforts to Improve Mentoring Practice. Nominees should provide concrete evidence of ongoing efforts to strengthen their mentoring practice, such as participating in research mentor training and implementing changes as a result, developing a reflective mentoring philosophy, or using mentor-mentee agreements effectively.
- Contribution to Graduate Student Professional Development. Nominees should demonstrate a commitment to preparing students for diverse careers paths. Evidence may include helping students build professional networks, providing constructive feedback on career goals, supporting applications for internships, fellowships, or jobs, and offering practical guidance on communication, leadership, collaboration, or other career-relevant competencies.
- Long-Term Positive Impact on Graduate Students. Nominees should show sustained, positive influence on the trajectories of their former and current graduate students. Evidence may include continued mentorship after graduation, alumni success influenced by the mentor’s guidance, and the creation of supportive, inclusive environments that promote confidence, persistence, and well-being.
Nomination process
To submit a nomination, email the following materials to dean@grad.wisc.edu by Friday, February 13, 2026:
- A nomination or endorsement letter from the nominee’s department chair, unit director, or director of graduate studies describing the nominee’s mentoring approach and illustrating how they demonstrate the practices and attributes listed in the “Nominee Info & Evaluation Criteria” section.
- Letters of support from graduate student mentees (minimum 1, maximum 5) describing how the nominee regularly demonstrates the actions and attributes outlined in the “Nominee Info & Evaluation Criteria” and “Demonstrated Evidence” sections.
- A document illustrating how mentoring expectations are communicated, such as a mentoring philosophy or expectations agreement, accompanied by a brief description of how this document is used with mentees.
- One letter of support from a faculty colleague speaking to the nominee’s demonstration of the practices and attributes described in the “Nominee Info & Evaluation Criteria” section.
- The nominee’s CV.