Martha Grover, a professor and associate chair for graduate studies in the Georgia Tech School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, was awarded one of six national Faculty Mentor of the Year awards at the 26th annual Institute on Teaching and Mentoring in October in Atlanta, Georgia. The Institute is the nation’s largest annual gathering of underrepresented Ph.D. students and college faculty members of color.

Grover was nominated by Kelvin Smith, a doctoral student at Georgia Tech. Smith has Aspergers’ Syndrome, which brings challenges with social interactions and limited soft skills, and he said he found Grover instrumental in helping him find his niche. “I think of Dr. Grover as much more than just an advisor/mentor but as a superior supporter like how my mother is,” Smith said.

To address the nation’s continuing shortage of African-American, Hispanic and Native American faculty, the SREB-State Doctoral Scholars Program hosts the annual Institute on Teaching and Mentoring, a collaboration of programs across the country that support minority Ph.D. students.

The Institute on Teaching and Mentoring is the largest gathering of minority doctoral scholars in the country. Now in its 26th year, the Institute gives the issue of faculty diversity a national focus and provides minority scholars with the strategies necessary to survive the rigors of graduate school, earn the doctoral degree and succeed as members of the professorate.

Contact: Veronica Johnson (404) 879-5536

Or Ansley Abraham (404) 879-5573