University of Arkansas Faculty Member Wins National Mentor of the Year Award
Ana Julia Bridges, an associate
professor in the University of Arkansas department of
psychological science, was awarded one of two national Faculty
Mentor of the Year awards at the 25th annual Institute on
Teaching and Mentoring in October in Arlington, Virginia. The
Institute is the nation’s largest annual gathering of
underrepresented Ph.D. students and college faculty members of
color.
“I call myself an academic momma,” Dr. Bridges told the Institute audience of nearly 1,200 Ph.D. students and faculty. “I attend to both the personal and professional well-being of my students.”
She was nominated for the award by University of Arkansas doctoral student Roselee Ledesma, who said that as a first-generation college graduate of color pursuing a Ph.D., she deeply appreciates Dr. Bridges’ mentoring and support. “She is the reason I will finish my Ph.D.,” Ledesma said.
Ledesma is a participant in the SREB Doctoral Scholars Program, which provides financial support, leadership development and mentoring to help underrepresented minority scholars become faculty members. To address the nation’s continuing shortage of African-American, Hispanic and Native American faculty, SREB 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 25th 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: Beth Day (404) 879-5544 beth.day@sreb.org
Or Ansley Abraham (404) 879-5573 ansley.abraham@sreb.org