Dr. Suning Wang Award for Outstanding Graduate Mentorship

Dr. Suning Wang Award for Outstanding Graduate Mentorship

recognizing graduate faculty members with a record of exceptional mentorship of graduate students under their supervision

About the Award

Established in 2018, the Dr. Suning Wang Award for Outstanding Graduate Mentorship recognizes graduate faculty members with a record of excellent mentorship of graduate students under their supervision. Outstanding mentors inspire their graduate students to be creative in their thinking, to push their research in new directions, and to make a positive impact on the future. They are essential to graduate student success – in the classroom, the laboratory, and beyond. 

Award Criteria

Outstanding mentorship is judged on the supervisor’s demonstrated ability to:

• Inspire, guide and challenge students to achieve excellence and integrity in scholarship;
• Provide a supportive environment that stimulates creativity, debate, engagement and dialogue, and progression toward timely completion;
• Support students in ways that are tailored to their individual learning styles, needs, and career/future aspirations;
• Encourage students to pursue opportunities to share and disseminate their research and scholarly activities within and beyond academia; and
• Support students in developing their academic and professional competencies and transitioning beyond graduate studies.

Eligibility

To be eligible for this award the nominee must:

• Hold a full-time faculty appointment at the rank of associate or full professor;
• Demonstrate a sustained record of graduate supervision at the current institution (no less than 7 years);
• Be currently active as a graduate supervisor;
• Provide a record of graduate students supervised (see details below);
• Previous award winners are ineligible.

Who Can Nominate?

Institutions can nominate only one individual. The university’s Faculty of Graduate Studies (or equivalent) shall have their own process for soliciting nominations and for selecting the nomination to be submitted electronically by the Dean of Graduate Studies (or equivalent) to CAGS. Individual nominations can be made by a faculty member, program director, or graduate student (no self-nominations).

Nomination Information

A nomination package must include:

1. A letter of nomination outlining the rationale for the nomination based on the stated criteria (maximum of two pages). Note, letter writers are encouraged to emphasize aspects of the nominee’s supervision that are related to the listed criteria. It has been the committee’s experience that descriptions such as “having an open-door policy” or “has group meals or outings” do not usefully distinguish one mentorship nominee from the next;
2. The nominee’s abbreviated CV (maximum of eight pages), as well as a list of all graduate students (past and current) supervised by the nominee. The list should include the name, degree, thesis title, program start and end date, current position (if known) of supervised graduate students, as well as any awards or special recognitions received by students;
3. Two to five letters of support from current and/or former students (letters can be signed by more than one student/former student);
4. A biographical statement of 100 words that can be used in CAGS communications.

Submission Period

CAGS is accepting nomination packages for the 2024 Dr. Suning Wang Award for Outstanding Graduate Mentorship during the period 15 April – 31 May 2024. Complete nomination packages should be submitted electronically in a single file to [email protected] no later than 4:00 PM (ET) on 31 May 2024. Please include “Dr. Suning Wang Mentorship Award” in the subject line.