Byron A. Alexander & John C. Wright Outstanding Graduate Mentor Awards
Overview
Each year, graduate students in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences are invited to nominate faculty and academic staff for the Byron A. Alexander and John C. Wright Outstanding Graduate Mentor Awards. These awards are presented to faculty and academic staff who provide outstanding mentorship to master's and doctoral students. They inspire their student through their own teaching, research, and mentoring, foster a collegial learning environment, successfully balance personal support and professional guidance, and prepare their student for careers in the academy and beyond.
Call for Nominations
Eligibility:
Current and former master's or doctoral students may nominate faculty and academic staff in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. Award amount is $850 - $1500. Past awardees (listed below) are not eligible.
Instructions to Nominator(s):
Please submit the online nomination form along with one or more letters of nomination. The most competitive nominations will include multiple letters from current and/or past students. Letter(s) should explain why the nominee deserves to be awarded an Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award. Please use specific examples to address the following award criteria, which the review committee will use to select award winners:
- Inspires students through their teaching, research, and mentoring.
- Has an established track record of successfully mentoring students through various stages of graduate education.
- Provides a good balance of personal support/encouragement and professional guidance.
- Creates a collegial environment and supports students' integration into the department/program.
- Provides students with information and opportunities for networking within the disciplinary community.
- Provides mentoring that is broad in scope and addresses the multiple areas of competency required by practicing professionals in the discipline (e.g., teaching, research, service, professional ethics, career development).
- Provides mentoring with a demonstrable impact on student outcomes (e.g., awards, publications, presentations, performances or other professional accomplishments) that would be considered "outstanding" by disciplinary standards.
Nomination packets may include no more than 10 nomination letters. Individual letters may not exceed two single-spaced pages (12 point font).
If you have questions or would like more information, please email coga@ku.edu or call 785-864-4201.
Current Year Awardees
Jonathan Brumberg - Psychology
Prof. Brumberg is a Professor in the Department of Psychology with a courtesy appointment in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and affiliations with the Neuroscience Graduate Program and Bioengineering Graduate Program. His research interests are in the neurological mechanisms underlying speech and communication and their use in brain-machine interfaces (BMI).
As a proponent of interdisciplinary research and networking, Prof. Brumberg has encouraged his students to look beyond the lab, ensuring they are forging connections and expanding their knowledge in a way that allows for new paths of exploration. He has helped students to leverage not just their academic skills, but their lived experiences in a way that supports their goals. Per one student, “His mentorship helped me navigate complex scientific challenges with both creativity and methodological precision—skills that have been essential in my transition to becoming a federally funded investigator. Beyond research, he supported my professional development by emphasizing the importance of publishing, presenting at conferences, and seeking external funding. His approach ensured that I was not only producing research but also growing into a scholar capable of making meaningful contributions to the field.”
Congratulations to Prof. Jonathan Brumberg!
Andrew Isenberg - History
Prof. Isenberg is a Hall Distinguished Professor of American History who specializes in the teaching of environmental history and the history of the North American West and its borderlands.
Among the many nominations letters written in support of Prof. Isenberg, the overarching theme of them all was his flexible and wholistic approach to graduate mentorship. Prof. Isenberg consistently takes the time to get to know his students as scholars, researchers, and people. He provides them with the resources to explore their individual scholarly identity, expand their professional network, and offers support in times of difficulty. As expressed by one student, “Dr. Isenberg is the type of scholar that graduate students seek to emulate: someone deeply committed to teaching and pedagogical innovation, a caring and compassionate advisor, a ruthless peer-reviewer, and a scholar that has been a major force in their academic fields for nearly three decades. I could not have asked for a better advisor, nor the university a better historian, than Dr. Isenberg.”
Congratulations to Prof. Andrew Isenberg!
Past Awardees
1993 – Professor John C. Wright
1994 – Professor Linda Stone-Ferrier
1995 – Professor Diana Carlin
1996 – Professor Amy J. Devitt
1997 – Professor Byron A. Alexander
1998 – Professor Carol Warren
1999 – Professor Jack Porter
2000 – Professor Stephen Goddard
2001 – Professor Jack Weller
2002 – Professor Mehrangiz Najafizadeh
2003 – Professor Mary Lee Hummert
2004 – Professor Rick Snyder
2005 – Professor Mark Richter
2006 – Professor A. Townsend Peterson
2007 – Professor Joann Keyton
2007 – Professor Robert Timm
2007 – Professor Robert Rowland
2008 – Professor Geraldo de Sousa
2008 – Professor William Johnson
2009 – Professor Alison Gabriele
2009 – Professor Theodore A. Wilson
2010 – Professor Mikhail Barybin
2011 – Professor Juliet Kaarbo
2012 – Professor John Janzen
2012 – Professor Eve Levin
2013 – Professor Stephen Egbert
2013 – Professor Ric Steele
2014 – Professor Maria Carlson
2015 – Professor Nyla Branscombe
2016 – Professor Paula Fite
2016 – Professor Don Haider-Markel
2017 – Professor Luis Corteguera
2018 – Professor Alesha Doan
2019 – Professor Hannah Britton
2019 – Professor ChangHwan Kim
2020 – Professor James Bever
2021 – Professor Utako Minai
2022 – Professor Sharon Billings
2023 – Professor Amy McNair
2024 - Professor Ward Lyles
2002 – Professor Annette Stanton
2003 – Professor John F. Sweets
2004 – Professor Linda Stone-Ferrier
2005 – Professor Iris Smith Fischer
2006 – Professor Bill Picking
2007 – Professor Craig Lunte
2008 – Professor John (Chris) Brown
2008 – Professor Rick Ingram
2009 – Professor Mabel Rice
2009 – Professor Rolfe Mandel
2010 – Professor Leisha DeHart-Davis
2011 – Professor Adrianne Kunkel
2012 – Professor Randal Jelks
2013 – Professor Michael Roberts
2014 – Professor Amy Rossomondo
2015 – Professor W. Matthew Gillispie
2016 – Professor Omri Gillath
2017 – Professor William Barnett
2018 – Professor Kelsie Forbush
2019 – Professor Eric Vernberg
2019 – Professor Sarah Kirk
2020 – Professor Jarron Saint Onge
2021 – Professor Mary Jo Reiff
2022 – Professor Dorothy Daley
2023 – Professor Nathaniel Brunsell
2024 - Professor Beth Bailey