Three UC Davis faculty members are recipients of a new Academic Senate award honoring their commitment to mentoring graduate students. Graduate Mentoring Award recipients are Charles Goldman of the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Jerry Hedrick of the Division of Biological Sciences and Janet Momsen of Human and Community Development.

Winners were announced at an Academic Senate Representative Assembly meeting earlier this month. A reception honoring the recipients is slated for next winter quarter. Goldman, Hedrick and Momsen were selected based on criteria that included: modeling high professional standards, providing intellectual growth and career guidance, demonstrating quality scholarship and being accessible to students.

Charles Goldman, professor of limnology in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, has been a faculty member at UC Davis since 1958. In that time, he has mentored 90 graduate students and 30 post-doctoral researchers. Many of them have gone on to become, like Goldman, influential and authoritative figures in the science of lakes and other freshwater bodies - what Goldman tirelessly calls "the queen of the ecological sciences."

Goldman's long-term research programs at Lake Tahoe and Castle Lake and Russia's Lake Baikal have been extremely important in shaping international environmental policy, His students have gone to distinguished careers in research, teaching, environmental consulting, planning, resource management and regulatory enforcement.

• former Goldman doctoral student and post-doc wrote of him, "[Professor Goldman] provided firm yet open-minded research and career guidance, helped me build a large professional network, was supportive of my teaching activities and indeed set an inspiring teaching example, never erred in his pursuit and support of the highest professional and ethical standards while remaining approachable and down-to-earth, and was always respectful and available."

Other former students remarked on the influence Goldman has had in shaping their philosophies about science and life in the larger sense. One wrote, "Charles' engaging personality and desire to give and share with others is what makes him the 'complete scientist' and ideal mentor for those wishing to pursue science in the most complete and fulfilling way."

Summarized Goldman's UC Davis department chair, Andrew Sih: "Dr. Goldman's record of graduate training is truly extraordinary and exemplary. One could easily build a case that he is one of the most accomplished graduate mentors in environmental science in the world."

Jerry Hedrick, professor of molecular and cell biology, has mentored numerous graduate students in his four decades at UC Davis. Nine of those students, ranging from the 1960's to the present, came together with 33 other current and former students, postdocs, scientific colleagues and staff to nominate him for this award. His nomination cites his ability to create a sense of "scientific family" based on a recognition of shared history, teaching by example and instilling the traits of pursuit of scientific knowledge, research excellence, integrity and ethics.

"Jerry's legacy extends beyond his own graduate students," said a former student in his nomination letter, noting that Hedrick has provided guidance and advice to other UC Davis students and students from across the country and around the world.

Hedrick has served several terms on the UC Davis Graduate Council, including three terms as chair; chaired the graduate group in biochemistry and molecular biology; and also served as associate dean for graduate programs in the Office of Graduate Studies from 1998 to 2001. He is currently program director of the NIH-funded Professors of the Future program, which helps postdoctoral researchers prepare for academic careers through training, practical experience and mentoring in teaching and research.

Janet Momsen came to UC Davis in 1992. The professor of geography is internationally recognized for her scholarship in human geography in the Caribbean region, gender and development, and tourism. She typically advises 12 to 15 students a year in the Geography Graduate Group, along with assisting others on the international agricultural development and community development tracks.

Along with her advising work, Momsen serves on a number of Geography Graduate Group committees. She also has filled in as graduate group chair.

"There is no single faculty member who has contributed more effort and hours of service to the group," wrote Geography Graduate Group Chair Deborah Elliott-Fisk. "She has served as an informal mentor and adviser of almost every student who has come through our program, as her door is always open to the students, and they value her opinion."

The respect that Momsen's graduate students have for her was evident during the Academic Senate meeting at which her award was announced. About a half dozen of her students showed up to greet Momsen with flowers and enthusiastically applaud her recognition.

In all, 20 current and former UC Davis students nominated her for the award. One former student recalled the personal support that Momsen was willing to give her from the first day they met. "She housed me in her home until I found a place of my own and has been my mentor, major professor and friend since," she said.