Campus-Wide Mentoring Taskforce

As an R1 public urban university that serves a majority Pell undergraduate population, UIC is uniquely positioned to do impactful work and to attract and retain top faculty, researchers, and students. A campus-wide mentor professional development program would empower faculty to be more competitive when applying for grants that advance our research mission; help promote a mentor mindset in our faculty, students and researchers that enhances academic excellence; support workforce development; and foster a climate that encourages collaboration and thriving outcomes. A campus-wide mentor professional development program would align with and continue to advance UIC’s mission as we provide “the broadest access to the highest levels of educational, research and clinical excellence.

At UIC there is an existing need for mentor professional development activities to support trainees, grants and other related initiatives that is being responded to through decentralized and one-off opportunities. Through this taskforce, we will formally address this need by tapping into the collective knowledge and experience that exists among our faculty, staff and administrators to identify existing mentor professional development programs at UIC, best practices/models, and collaborative opportunities. Miquel Gonzalez-Meler, Professor in Biological Sciences, Lauren Woods, Associate Director for Teaching Development Pathways and CIRTL at UIC, CATE, and Nancy Freitag, Professor and Head of Pharmaceutical Sciences have agreed to co-chair this taskforce.

The members of the taskforce (list below) represent a wide variety of disciplines whose work will be sub-divided into three working groups.

• Ramona Alcalá, Associate Director of Undergraduate Research, Office of Student Success and Belonging
• Fabricio Balcazar, Professor, Disability and Human Development, Director, Center on Capacity Building for Minorities with Disabilities Research, College of Applied Health Sciences
• Joanna Burdette, Professor, Associate Dean for Research, Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy
• Alison Doubleday, Associate Professor, Director Faculty Development (Faculty Affairs), Oral Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Dentistry
• Anne Eaton, Professor, Philosophy, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs & Interdisciplinary Programs, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Lunaire Ford, Assistant Dean, Graduate College
• Nancy Freitag, Professor and Head, Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy
• Trina Fresco, Graduate Student, College of Applied Health Sciences
• Miquel Gonzalez-Meler, Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Biological Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Memoona Hasnain, Professor and Associate Dean of Faculty Development, Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine
• Rosalba Hernandez, Associate Professor, Population Health Nursing Science, Associate Dean for Equity and Inclusion, College of Nursing
• Mary Khetani, Professor, Occupational Therapy, College of Applied Health Sciences
• Carmen Lilley, Associate Professor, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Inclusive Excellence and Associate, College of Engineering
• So Jung Lee, Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Educational Psychology, College of Education
• David Marquez, Professor and Interim Department Head, Kinesiology and Nutrition, College of Applied Health Sciences
• Valerie Miller, Director, Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research
• Larisa Nonn, Professor of Pathology, Co-Director Graduate Education in Medical Sciences PhD Program, GEMS, Associate Director, Cancer Research Training Education Coordination, College of Medicine
• Jane Rhodes, Professor, Black Studies, Associate Dean for Research & Programs in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Interdisciplinary Units; Diversity Equity and Inclusion; and Community Engagement, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Rebecca Rugg, Dean, College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts
• Bernadette Sanchez, President’s Distinguished Professor, Educational Psychology, College of Education
• Bernie Santarsiero, Research Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences; Director, Research Initiatives, Graduate College and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, College of Pharmacy
• Robert Sloan, Professor and Department Head, Computer Science, College of Engineering
• Geoffrey Stetson, Associate Professor, Clinical Medicine and Medical Education, College of Medicine
• Kay Thursby-Bourke, Graduate Student, Community and Applied Developmental Psychology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Lauren Woods, Associate Director for Teaching Development Pathways & CIRTL@UIC, Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence (CATE)