Katherine Fu, associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was awarded one of three national Faculty Mentor of the Year awards at the annual Institute on Teaching and Mentoring in October in Atlanta. The Institute is the nation’s largest annual gathering of underrepresented Ph.D. students and college faculty members of color.

Fu was nominated by Georgia Tech doctoral student Bettina Arkhurst, who said “I do not believe I would have been able to continue in my Ph.D. program without her support and mentorship. If there is anyone who deserves to be honored for her commitment to enabling graduate students of color to thrive in spaces that have historically been unwelcoming, it is Kate.”

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 29th 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.