Mentoring Awards | The Graduate School | Michigan State University

The Graduate School recognizes the critical role that inclusive, high-quality mentoring plays in MSU’s research and educational missions.

The Graduate School Mentoring Awards help to recognize graduate programs, faculty mentors and doctoral students whose practice exemplifies the Foundational Values for Graduate Student and Faculty Mentoring Relationships and who make exceptional efforts to sustain the rights and fulfill the responsibilities outlined in the MSU Guidelines for Graduate Student Mentoring and Advising.

Awards

There are 3 separate award categories:

Outstanding Graduate Program Community Award

This award recognizes a graduate program/department that fosters the Foundational Values and proactively works to meet their students’ educational and extended professional development needs

This might include (but need not be limited to) some of the following activities:

impactful orientations and annual progress reports
sustained career and professional development programing
a rich intellectual climate as evidenced through colloquia, seminars, etc.

The program will receive $5,000 from the Graduate School in 2026-27 to support graduate program activities.

Nomination Deadline: February 27, 2026

Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award

This award recognizes faculty whose work with graduate students exemplifies the Foundational Values through ensuring that their students meet program expectations and milestones, and providing multiple enriched career and professional development opportunities (through, e.g., research experiences that go beyond the requirements of the dissertation, professional development and networking opportunities, community engagement experiences, enhanced teaching preparation, collaborative research/ scholarship/ creative activities).

Two awards will be available this year, one for an assistant/early associate professor (2-3 years in associate rank) and one for advanced associate and full professors. The mentors will receive $1500 from the Graduate School in 2026-27 to support mentoring activities.

Nomination Deadline: February 27, 2026

Outstanding Doctoral Student Mentor Award

This award recognizes a doctoral student who has already demonstrated the capacity to be a strong mentor. This student will have engaged in sustained mentoring activities at MSU that help other graduate or undergraduate students succeed in their own research.

These activities could be related to, e.g., a course, a lab, a community research project, field research, and/or support programs. The student will receive a $1,000 fellowship award. The student must plan to be enrolled in spring or summer 2026.

Nomination Deadline: February 27, 2026

Nomination Process

Nominations for these awards must have 3 supporting documents. The primary nominator/s must ensure that the packet is complete before submitting it to the Graduate School.

Nominating letters can come from current or former MSU graduate students, undergraduate students (in the case of the Doctoral Student Mentor Award), faculty members, or administrators. A total of 2 letters (as described below) can be submitted.

Primary Nominating Letter
- This letter can come from an individual or a group of individuals. Maximum of 5 pages.
- The nominating letter should clearly articulate:
  - how the program or individual fits the criteria for the award.
  - what activities best exemplify the program or individual contribution.
  - what the impact those activities have had for the success of students.
Second Letter of Support
- This letter should speak to the fit with the criteria and describe the contributions to mentoring. Maximum 5 pages.
- If the primary nominating letter is provided by students, the support letter should be from faculty or administrators familiar with the nominee’s mentoring activities.
- If the primary nominating letter is provided by faculty or administrators, the letter of support should be from students.
Award-Specific Documentation
- Individual award nominations:
  - a CV for the nominee is required.
- Program nominations:
  - The current Graduate Handbook should be submitted as a PDF (if no online version exists) or a link must be provided to an updated handbook. Handbooks must be current (i.e., updated within the last academic year).

Submission

The packet should be submitted via email to: fellowshipapps@grd.msu.edu.

The e-mail subject line must clearly identify the name of the award for which the nomination is made, and the body of the e-mail must identify the individual or program being nominated.

Selection Process

The Graduate School will convene a selection committee with representation from the following groups:

college graduate associate deans
graduate program directors
Graduate School associate deans
COGS representatives.

The committee will evaluate the nominations and make a recommendation to the Dean, who will make the awards.

For questions, please contact Kirsten Tollefson, Associate Dean, Graduate School.

2025/2026 Award Winners

Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award

Beth Herbel-Eisenmann, Ph.D.

Professor Beth Herbel-Eisenmann from the Department of Teacher Education and Director of the Program in Mathematics Education (PRIME) exemplifies all of the foundational values of this award; namely a commitment to respect and care; professionalism, ethics and integrity; and the professional and personal growth and independence of the student.

She has graduated 22 doctoral students as major advisor and served on an additional 20 dissertation guidance committees. Eleven current and past PRIME graduate students plus 8 faculty provided ample evidence of Beth’s outstanding mentoring in their nomination letters. She has a sustained commitment to cultivating independent scholars and supporting diverse career goals. Her students report they “consistently felt seen, valued and supported – not only as scholars, but as human beings navigating complex personal and professional journey”.

She regularly hosts gatherings and meetings that are referred to as “family meetings”. Beth also mentors faculty by sharing her own advising practices, including developing an “Advisor Checklist” with practices advisors can use to support their own students. She led the development of PRIME’s Guiding Principles document that places students at the center of program decisions and supported the creation of the PRIME Student Advisory Council.

Outstanding Early Career Faculty Mentor Award

Lauren Sullivan, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor Lauren Sullivan from the Department of Plant Biology and the W. K. Kellogg Biological Station exemplifies all of the foundational values of this award; namely a commitment to respect and care; professionalism, ethics and integrity; and the professional and personal growth and independence of the student.

As an Assistant Professor she has directly mentored 10 graduate students, 4 postdocs, and 27 undergraduates in her own lab in addition to serving on 42 thesis committees. She serves as the faculty chair of the Ecology, Evolution and Behavior (EEB) graduate program’s DEI committee that organizes “Envision EEB”; a preview weekend for prospective graduate students from diverse backgrounds and identities that strives to relieve disparities in access to graduate education in the biological sciences.

She recently transitioned to become the Associate Director for the EEB graduate program. “Dr. Sullivan mentors with clear direction, focusing on equity, access, and holistic support.” She figures out what each mentee needs, researches the best mentoring practices and finds the resources needed to fulfill them. She has built an inclusive, empowering, and respectful mentoring environment for her lab and department.

Outstanding Doctoral Student Mentor Award

Alexander (Al) Wood

Mr. Alexander (Al) Wood is a fifth-year PhD student in the Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education (CITE) program. Al serves as a mentor within the CITE program, officially taking on a first-year PhD student mentee each year as well as serving on several graduate students’ practicum committees. He’s served on the University Student Appeals Board, including as Chair for 2 years.

His mentorship extends beyond MSU to graduate students across the nation in his roles as the Program Chair in the National Council of the Social Studies’ (NCSS) Graduate Student Forum and as the Graduate Editorial Assistant for the “Theory & Research in Social Education”. He also serves as a conference proposal reviewer for the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the College and University Faculty Assembly of NCSS (CUFA) providing graduate students with feedback on their proposals.

As a former K-12 teacher, Al’s kept in close contact with his past schools as well as mentoring undergrad Spartan teacher candidates at local schools. He mentors high-school students as a judge for the Michigan Center for Civic Education’s We the People competition and serves as an AP exam reader. “Al has made a tremendous difference in the personal and professional lives of his former high school students, his undergraduate students, and his fellow doctoral students."

Outstanding Graduate Program Community Award

School of Packaging

The School of Packaging graduate program consistently strives to model what an outstanding graduate community should be by their commitment to fostering an inclusive, supportive, and intellectually vibrant environment for its graduate students.

The Packaging Graduate Association (PGA) plays a central role in sustaining a strong community of care within the program. Graduate students serve on 4 major committees within the school and play a role in the 3+2 program with North Carolina Central University. The PGA has worked to expand the School's career fair to include graduate students and established an annual 3-minute thesis-style showcase called PackPitch.

The program recently completed a comprehensive revision to their Graduate Handbook and invested in mentoring training of faculty using the CIMER model.

View Past Winners