MCB’s Community Task Force (CTF) on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging is excited to announce the 2024 MCB Mentorship Award.
This award recognizes individuals within the MCB community who have provided outstanding mentorship to others. “By doing so, we hope to highlight the department’s value for thoughtful mentorship and the impact it can have on individual growth and the department as a whole,” says Rebecca LaCroix, MCB Curriculum and Pedagogy Manager, and member of the CTF Community Engagement & Transparency (CE&T) working group creating the award. She and Maggie Yin, undergraduate neuroscience concentrator, lead the CE&T award committee which includes the entire CTF membership.
Mentorship can have many faces. The award committee welcomes candidates from every area of MCB including research mentorship (including development of technical and/or communication skills), academic mentorship (e.g., thoughtful teaching, teaching development for graduate students, or concentration advising), workplace mentorship (e.g., skill building, starting in a new role), and career mentorship (e.g., application support, career advising). Faculty, graduate students, postdocs, research and administrative staff, and teaching fellows, are all candidates for nomination. Although nominators do not have to have an MCB affiliation, candidates for the award do.
“I’m excited for the return of the MCB Mentorship Award, inaugurated in 2022 to honor influential mentors and inspire a supportive MCB environment,” says Jessica Manning, MCB Executive Director. Postdoctoral fellow Corey Allard and Faculty member Venkatesh Murthy were previous winners in 2022. “After a 2023 hiatus for rethinking the nomination process and presentation, I’m looking forward to relaunching the award and recognizing this year’s awardee(s) at the MCB Spring Community Forum,” she adds.
Nominations are open now and will be accepted until Friday, 3/29, at 11:59 p.m. The short nomination form can be completed using this link. Between one and three candidates will be awarded a cash prize and a token of appreciation at the MCB’s Community Forum on April 12th and in the MCB news channels.
