GSA rewards two faculty members for outstanding service to graduate students

GSA rewards two faculty members for outstanding service to graduate students

BY B.J. ALMOND and DAWN DORSEY
Rice News staff

The Graduate Student Association presents the GSA Faculty Teaching/Mentoring Award each year to faculty who have demonstrated outstanding service to graduate student education. This year’s winners are Jordan Konisky and Brett Ashley Leeds.

Konisky

Konisky is sympathetic to the needs of graduate students, not just because he is vice provost for research and graduate studies, but also because he is the father of graduate students.

“During most of my entire 10 years at Rice University, one or both of my sons have been graduate students elsewhere, so I understand the uncertainties and personal stresses that go along with being a graduate student,” Konisky said.

His experience working closely with graduate students before he came to Rice also contributes to his knowledge of students’ problems, both academic and personal. He spent 26 years as a faculty member in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign, where he directed the research of about 30 graduate students, many of whom were international students.

Konisky is proud of the many improvements that have been made in the quality of graduate student life at Rice in the past decade, such as the opening of the graduate apartments, subsidization of the graduate student health-care plan premium and implementation of a sick-leave and parental-leave plan. He helped with the planning for graduate student social space in the student center and was instrumental in implementing the new doctoral hooding ceremony.

“It is very important that the person overseeing graduate student education at Rice keep in touch with students, and so I always make myself available to meet with individuals or groups of graduate students,” Konisky said, adding that helping students is among the most satisfying aspects of his job.

Leeds

For Leeds, a parade of excellent teachers throughout her education inspired her to follow in their footsteps. They went beyond imparting factual knowledge, Leeds said, to give her knowledge and self-confidence.

Today, as the Albert Thomas Associate Professor of Political Science, Leeds draws on those influences to enrich her own teaching skills.

“My favorite part of teaching is helping students find their niches,” she said. “Particularly in working with graduate students, seeing them develop projects and make contributions is enormously rewarding. I am really gratified when I see a student recognize that he or she has something important to say.”

A Century Scholar Mentor since 2003, Leeds said she views graduate school as an apprenticeship. While much time is spent studying existing research and honing research skills, graduate students also need to learn to be good teachers and citizens of their discipline, university and department. Within that framework, however, are as many possibilities as there are students.

“The key to being a good mentor is to help each student do the best work he or she can do, and this requires recognizing that the appropriate mentoring style and appropriate career plan vary from student to student,” she said.

The GSA Faculty Teaching/Mentoring Award consists of a $1,500 prize, funded through the Office of the President, and a plaque. Up to two awards are given each year.