Graduate Program Mentoring Excellence Award

All University of Maryland graduate programs are eligible for nomination.

Previous award recipients are not eligible for a period of five years following receipt of the award. Please see the Nomination Instructions for additional information.

Programs should submit a 2-3 page nomination letter (single PDF) that provides a concise, evidence informed description of the program’s graduate mentoring excellence.

The letter should:

1. Briefly summarize the program context (degrees, size, mentoring environment, history or complexity), articulate the program’s mentoring commitments and culture, and describe the mentoring practices and structures used across the graduate student lifecycle.
2. Include 2 to 5 concrete indicators of effectiveness, quantitative and/or qualitative, such as retention / completion / time-to-degree, milestone progression, mentoring or climate survey results (e.g., GradSERU), participation rates in mentoring practices, or de identified themes from student feedback.
3. Highlight the program’s distinctive strengths or innovations and explain sustainability and accountability, including who is responsible for mentoring oversight, how mentoring quality is assessed regularly, and how practices persist beyond individual champions.

You may also find it helpful to draw on processes or measurement emanating from your Graduate Learning Outcomes Assessment plan.

SUBMITTING THE NOMINATION LETTER
Please submit the nomination letter (single PDF) using the Nomination Letter Submission Form.

The nomination deadline is 12:00 p.m. (noon) on Monday, February 15, 2027.

Nominations will be considered based on the program’s graduate mentoring excellence, including its mentoring commitments and culture, mentoring practices and structures, indicators of effectiveness, distinctive strengths or innovations, and sustainability and accountability.

Please direct any questions to Robyn Kotzker in the Office of Funding Opportunities
at rkotzker@umd.edu or 301-405-0281.