MASA Annual Graduate Student Mentor Award
Deadline August 1
Purpose: To recognize excellence in graduate student mentorship and acknowledge the important contributions of medical anthropologists who have provided exceptional guidance and outstanding support to graduate students in this field.
For whom and for what: This award is aimed at senior or mid-career scholars who have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to teaching and mentorship throughout their careers, particularly those who have taken the time to thoughtfully and successfully guide their MA and PhD students through their fieldwork experience and the thesis/dissertation writing process.
Attributes to Consider: Communicates clearly and supportively with students and offers consistent, positive guidance; provides timely and productive feedback on written work;
Creates a friendly, encouraging and academically challenging environment; makes an effort to teach medical anthropology in innovative and effective ways;
Encourages students to submit abstracts of their own at conferences, write and submit their own work to journals, teach well and value teaching and begin to function on their own in those public arenas that include medical anthropology;
Has a good track record of retaining students: remaining on committees, retaining advisees, and actually graduating a good proportion of their advisees;
Inspires students to pursue their own research, teaching and advocacy goals in medical anthropology, despite the daunting nature of graduate school and the dissertation process;
Helps students connect with other professionals in their field outside of their own departments and helps familiarize them with the unwritten rules of their professional community;
Steps back and allows students to learn from their own mistakes; lets them step forward on their own and begin making their own decisions; lets them define and take appropriate risks.
Nomination Procedures and Application Materials:
A minimum of three letters of nomination should be from current and/or former students outlining the ways in which the candidate has been a strong mentor, advisor and/or teacher. Additional letters may also be submitted by junior colleagues whom the candidate has mentored; however, this is not a requirement. Each letter should consider the above criteria and address any other attributes or practices that have led to supportive, successful mentoring. Nominations for the faculty mentor award will remain open for three years for consideration by the award committee.
Submissions:
Nomination and support letters will be accepted until the deadline of August 1. Please send all nomination letters to Jonathan Stillo at jstillo@gmail.com. The award recipient will be honored during the SMA Business Meeting and Award Ceremony at the AAA Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. this December.
What Will Be Awarded, and When:
Awards will be announced at the SMA business meeting at the AAA. Candidates will be presented with a plaque of appreciation and a two hundred dollar check.
