The Office of Faculty Development (OFD) is happy to announce the award of 15 grants to faculty and librarians leading mutual mentoring projects in 2024–25.
OFD's Mutual Mentoring Grant Program aims to help faculty and librarians to develop and deepen their mentoring networks and community and to grow as researchers, teachers, and leaders in their fields. This year's cohort involves faculty from a variety of career stages and from all parts of campus, including eight colleges and schools, the Libraries, and University Without Walls. Projects take on a wide range of challenges—equitable access to undergraduate research experiences; mentorship for late-career women faculty, for Hispanic engineers, and for parents; departmental culture; building community within and across disciplines; interprofessional education programming; and many others.
Associate Provost for Faculty Development Angela de Oliveira shares, "We are thrilled to deliver this year's grants to an impressive, passionate, and dedicated group of projects. OFD is excited to empower these individuals and teams, both for their own professional development and for the positive impact they will make on campus."
2024–25 Mutual Mentoring Team Grant Recipients:
A Bottom-Up Network for Developing Transparent Policies and Mechanisms for Equitable Access to STEM Undergraduate Research Experiences
Team: Jeffrey Blanchard (biology), Paula Rees (civil and environmental engineering), Lori Astheimer (psychological and brain sciences), Syde Orange (student success and diversity), Madelaine Bartlett (biology), Lisa Depiano (Stockbridge), Martin Hunter (biomedical engineering), Ashish Kulkarni (chemical engineering), Emily Kumpel (civil and environmental engineering), Ruthanne Paradise (chemistry), Brenda Philips (electrical and computer engineering), Shannon Roberts (mechanical and industrial engineering), & Lisa Sanders (psychological and brain sciences)
Reclaiming Identity: Mentorship for Late-Career Female Faculty
Team: Elena Carbone (nutrition), Gloria DiFulvio (health promotion and policy), Karen Helfer (communication disorders), & Beth Jakob (biology)
Archives, Art, and Activism: Black Liberation and Creation in Western Massachusetts and Beyond
Team: Justin A. Coles (student development), Keisha Green (teacher education and curriculum studies), Jamila Lyiscott (student development), Blake Spitz (Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center)
BiblioHarmony Collective: Navigating the Stacks of Work-Life Equilibrium
Team: Jennifer Friedman (academic engagement), Kat Berry (information resource management), Rachel Caldwell (academic engagement), Melissa Harter (access services), & Rebecca Reznik-Zellen (science and engineering library)
MentorSHPES: Mentoring Societies of Hispanic Professional Engineers and Scientists
Team: Christian D. Guzman (civil and environmental engineering), Sergio Breña (civil and environmental engineering), Juan Jiménez (mechanical and industrial engineering), Martín Medina Elizalde (earth, geographic, and climate sciences), & Christian Rojas (resource economics)
All Dried Up: Mutual Mentoring for Women Full Professors at UMass
Team: Elizabeth Krause (anthropology), Aline Gubrium (community health education), Marta Calás (organization studies and international management), Sally Campbell Pirie (Child and Family Studies), & Rebecca Spencer (psychological and brain sciences)
Bridging the Gap
Team: Alejandro Pérez Carballo (philosophy), Guillermo Del Pinal (philosophy), Sophie Horowitz (Philosophy), Eleonore Neufeld (philosophy), & Christopher Meacham (philosophy)
Collaborative Development of Intentional and Evidence-based Interprofessional Education Programming at UMass
Team: Lisa Sommers (speech, language, and hearing sciences), Thomas St. Laurent (kinesiology), Christy Maxwell (nutrition), Julia McDougal Ronconi (nursing), Sally Linowski (health promotion and policy), & Leonora Thomas (Undergraduate Clinical Placement Coordinator)
Building Health Economics
Team: Lucy Xiaolu Wang (resource economics), Debi Prasad Mohapatra (resource economics), Christopher Boone (economics), & Elizabeth Evans (health promotion and policy)
Evaluating Portfolio-Based Admissions
Team: Erika Zekos (architecture), Jeffery Kasper (art), Carey Clouse (architecture), & Susan Jahoda (art)
2024–25 Mutual Mentoring Micro Grant Recipients:
Mentoring Our (Older)selves to Sustain Our Thinking and Writing
Kiran Asher (women, gender, and sexuality studies) & Rachel L. Mordecai (english)
Rendering Revolution - Curation Across Disciplines
Siobhan Mei (computer science)
Collaborate with Positivity: Improv for Improving Communication and Connection
Melanie Radik (Science and Engineering Library)
Mentoring Academic Parents of Children with Special Needs
Teresa Ramsby (classics), Angélica María Bernal (political science) & Maya Eddon (philosophy)
Leadership Development and Its Impact on Departmental Culture and Climate
Julie M. Skogsbergh (University Without Walls)
Learn more about OFD's Mutual Mentoring Grant Program on our website, or contact our Director of Faculty Development, Leyla Keough-Hameed.