Cutting-edge/new research

Laura Kray

As someone who has benefited enormously throughout my 25-year career from mentors who have been extremely committed to my career development, I am eager to “pay it forward.” I am proud to have mentored undergraduate and graduate students, post-docs, junior and mid-career faculty. As chair of the Management of Organizations group at Haas, I have developed both formal and informal channels for supporting the diverse needs of our community. My approach to mentoring is flexible in the sense that I tailor it to the specific needs of individual mentees. I appreciate that each person’s journey is unique and therefore a one-size-fits-all approach is insufficient. Upon establishing a trust-based relationship with mentees, I share stories about my own experiences, good (and bad) advice that I have received along the way, and observations about broader trends in academia and beyond. Working with mentees, we jointly discover new solutions to old problems and old solutions to new problems.

Kris Gutiérrez

I believe mentoring the next generation of scholars, particularly first generation faculty and students, is one of the most important responsibilities and commitments I have. I have had the privilege of mentoring and apprenticing both students (graduate, undergraduate, and postdocs) and faculty (particularly early and mid-career faculty) at my institutions and in professional arenas since I was an early career scholar myself. Presently, I am also a mentor for dissertation, postdoctoral, and mid-career fellows for the National Academy of Education & the Spencer Foundation.

Thomas M. Philip

I’ve always engaged in interdisciplinary collaborations and scholarship, which have been immensely rewarding. Earlier in my career, I found it extremely challenging to participate in distinct fields and speak across them, especially when addressing issues of race and power as a researcher. (These challenges certainly take new forms later in one’s professional trajectory.) I’m happy to be a thought partner with colleagues navigating similar opportunities and dilemmas.

Steven Raphael

Throughout my career, I have benefited greatly from the advice and guidance of key senior mentors on everything from teaching and research, to key career choices. I make it a priority to model my interactions with up-and-coming faculty accordingly. I believe that I am a good (and neutral) sounding board, am always happy to listen and offer my feedback without expectations or judgment.

Benjamin Recht

I have mentored undergraduate, graduate students, and junior faculty in Computer Science at Berkeley since I arrived in 2013. I look forward to working with faculty at the assistant and associate levels to navigate their way towards success at Berkeley.

Sonia Katyal

I have served as an Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development for several years (both here and elsewhere) at the Law School and can advise colleagues regarding mentoring, campus leadership and collaboration, work/life balance, and how to design research projects that engage with various communities.

Adrian Aguilera

I am excited to provide advice on working towards a balance of career and broader life success for faculty. I'm especially committed to working with underrepresented faculty to help them feel included and achieve success at Berkeley.

Teresa Caldeira

For the last 20 years, I have worked for the creation and implementation of DEIB initiatives in the UC system. At UC Irvine, I was an ADVANCE Equity Advisor. At UC Berkeley, I served several times as the Diversity/Equity officer for my department and was instrumental in creating its first Strategic Plan for Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity. As chair of my department, I deepened my knowledge about processes of promotion and advancement and have been advising colleagues, especially assistant professors, on how to prepare their files for merit and promotion. I care immensely about mentoring students and have experimented with different ways of doing this effectively. I received a Faculty Mentor Award, Graduate Assembly, UCB in 2012.

Matthew Welch

When I started at Berkeley my mentoring relationships were mainly informal and my mentors were junior faculty friends in my department as well as senior faculty with whom I shared research interests. However, I now see that new faculty can benefit from a broader spectrum of mentoring and advising relationships.

Sanjay Kumar

I have been on the Berkeley faculty since 2005 and currently direct QB3-Berkeley. I chaired the Department of Bioengineering from 2019-22, where I oversaw multiple successful faculty/staff recruitment and retention cases and wrote many Chair's letters for merit, tenure, and promotion. In addition to formally mentoring junior faculty in my department, I have served on a number of department and campus ad hoc committees and written >50 external tenure and promotion letters. I look forward to drawing upon all of these experiences as I advise my faculty colleagues.