Department interactions

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.

As the pace of discoveries quickens and as we move up the academic ladder, the demands on our time and the responsibilities of our faculty role also change. I have mentored and collaborated with other faculty members, postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students, and high school students. I look forward to sharing these experiences with my faculty colleagues and also learning from them.

Experience matters, but listening is paramount when it comes to mentoring. As a woman of color and a first generation scholar, I have more than 20 years of experience navigating complex institutions like UC Berkeley and the academy, more generally. I bring my own insights, but I am most interested in helping colleagues define their goals, develop strategies, build community, and achieve a sense of belonging and fulfillment.

I think one of the most difficult challenges Berkeley faculty face is time management. The competing demands of research, teaching, student mentoring, committee service, and family life can be completely overwhelming at times, and one must learn that not everything can be done to perfection. While I certainly don’t claim to have all of the answers, I am happy to discuss challenges and strategies with faculty who are developing their plan to navigate this challenging but rewarding career.