The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures awarded the first annual departmental Graduate Student Mentoring Award to Associate Professor Herb Eagle at our Commencement Reception on Friday, April 28, 2017. Please join us in congratulating Herb on this well-deserved recognition!

Graduate Student Mentoring Award

The Slavic Languages & Literatures Graduate Student Mentoring Award recognizes research faculty who are outstanding mentors of doctoral students, who support student’s intellectual, scholarly and professional growth and encourage intellectual engagement.

Eligibility

Tenured/tenure-track faculty members who have chaired or are members of a Slavic Languages & Literatures graduate student’s Prelim or Dissertation committee or who have otherwise significantly contributed to the development and growth of departmental graduate student(s).  A faculty member may only receive the award once in a four year period.

Selection Criteria

Nominees should demonstrate an extraordinary generosity of spirit in fostering the intellectual, scholarly and professional growth of graduate students and encourage intellectual engagement within the department and the field.

Award

One award will be made on a bi-annual basis with the inaugural year in 2017.  The awardee will be announced and honored at the department’s annual graduation reception held at the end of winter term.  The recipient will receive a certificate and honorarium of $500 in either research funds or monetary compensation (taxes will be deducted).

Source of Nominations

Nominations may be submitted by graduate students in good standing at the University of Michigan, recent PhD students of the department, and individual tenured/tenure track faculty members.

Selection Process

The Department’s Student Services Coordinator will send an announcement in March of each bi-annual year to all current graduate students, graduate students who have successfully completed the PhD program within the last two years and currently active tenured/tenure track faculty.  Nomination letters, of no more than 2,000 words, will be due by in early April.  The Graduate Student Mentoring Award recipient will be determined by the Slavic Languages and Literatures Chair who will review the letters of nomination based on the criteria below (please include specific examples):

  • Demonstrated skills and dedication as a mentor (including mentoring style and how the nominee supported the graduate student’s professional and intellectual growth)
  • Exceptional contributions to mentoring and why the recipient is deserving of this honor
  • Mentors students in teaching
  • Mentors students in diverse career paths
  • Ensures that students master the key content and skill of their area of study
  • Promotes successful and timely completion of students’ graduate work in general and degree program
  • Provides student with confidence, encouragement and resources necessarily to take full advantage of academic and professional opportunities.
  • Advances and enriches students’ long-term professional development – whatever career path the student may choose