The Graduate Student Council and the Office of Graduate Studies are pleased to announce the winners of the Graduate Faculty Mentoring award. The two winners are: Gordon Gribble, Professor of Chemistry and Brian Pogue, Associate Professor of Engineering. This award was created by the Graduate Student Council to recognize and highlight the outstanding mentoring activities that are undertaken by faculty advisors at Dartmouth. The selected winners each had several nominations addressing their positive attributes as mentors. Gordon and Brian both exemplify outstanding qualities as mentors to their graduate students. We would like to highlight some of the attributes that make them excellent mentors.
Gordon Gribble, Professor of Chemistry (Photo by
Rashelle Lee)
A graduate student describes how he benefits by having Gordon as a mentor: "Professor Gribble is one of the most recognized and respected scientists with a broad knowledge and deep insight in organic chemistry especially in heterocycle synthesis and being part of his research group has been an enjoyable and extremely rewarding experience. Working with Prof. Gribble means not only plenty of freedom and independence, but also frequent personal attention from him. He not only taught me how to do and present my research, but also encouraged me to follow up my ideas about some projects and prepare manuscripts. I was especially impressed by the fact that he was always available for one-to-one discussions, which is quite extraordinary considering his busy schedule. He always encouraged me as a scientist, as a friend and as a philosopher; both in my life and in research. On the toughest times in my graduate career, he was there to encourage me to never give up on my dreams
Brian Pogue, Associate Professor of Engineering
(Photo by Rashelle Lee)
Another graduate nomination letter addresses Brian's attributes as a mentor. "Professor Pogue's open door policy and general availability are evidence of his dedication to his students and research. I frequently visit his office unannounced to discuss the latest experimental results, plans for future experiments, or new information I have come across in the literature. He always gives me his full attention. I sometimes spend several hours with him in the lab or strategizing about an experimental approach. He also makes himself available to his students by phone on the weekends and evenings. He is knowledgeable about our research field and keeps up with the intricacies of the work his students conduct in the lab. These qualities are greatly appreciated and facilitate high quality work from his students"
By recognizing these two outstanding mentors we hope to highlight the enormous contribution they have made to graduate students. In addition, we would like to acknowledge all of the faculty members who were nominated by their students. Numerous graduate alumni and graduate students wrote letters of nomination for their faculty mentors. The letters truly spoke of the wonderful mentoring occurring at Dartmouth.
