A big congratulations to Food Science and Technology's Drs. Maria Marco (Food Science Graduate Group) and Alyson Mitchell (Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry Graduate Group) for each receving the Graduate Studies 2024 Graduate Program Advising and Mentoring Award! Dedicated to showcasing and promoting positive advising and mentoring experiences within graduate education at UC Davis, this award recognizes faculty members for their outstanding contributions to the graduate student experience.  They were among 27 faculty members who won the award.

FST Chair Chris Simmons highlighted some of Maria's accomplishments: "“I have seen that Maria's efforts over her two terms as FSGG Chair have resulted in significant improvements in student support and communication. These include a thorough revamping of the grad group bylaws and degree requirements (with meaningful input from faculty and students) and the implementation of the student advancement committee to support students in their progress towards securing their degree. Additionally, this committee, under Maria's guidance, has implemented new workshops on preproposal preparation that better prepare students for their QE and make the preproposal review process more transparent. Maria also spearheaded the successful effort to make FSGG a member of the Grad Studies Graduate Program Collective. Under this initiative, she has led the effort to design, deliver, and evaluate a QE preparation workshop and an event focused on fostering faculty/student mutual understanding surrounding the graduate school experience, including both its benefits and its challenges.”

“I’m deeply honored to receive this recognition. It’s been wonderful to serve the food science graduate student community and lead our graduate group program these past several years. We have such excellent students, that advising and mentoring them through their UC Davis journey has been its own reward”. - Dr. Maria Marco

“I am humbled and honored to receive this recognition. The interdepartmental nature of the AgChem graduate group attracts students with diverse and unique educational goals.  I am so grateful to have the opportunity to advise, mentor, and learn from this inspiring group of students.” - Dr. Alyson Mitchell

As Jean-Pierre Delplanque, vice provost and dean of Graduate Studies points out in his award letter, "Graduate advising and mentoring is vital for guiding students through their degrees and professional development, while also helping ensure their overall success and well-being." 

And if you're a grad student or postdoc, you can read more about being a mentee at the Mentoring Up website, which is a program designed to develop the skills of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in navigating mentoring relationships with faculty. 

Thank you again to Maria and Alyson for all of their efforts!