Celebrating Dedication to Diversity in Science and Engineering
Award Winner:Olivia Mendoza, Program Coordinator for Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics
- Graduate student recruitment events
- Life Sciences (BIO5) recruitment weekend - early Spring
- Assist with visiting graduate students - schedule visits with faculty - hotel accommodations - provide information about the UA
- Undergraduate recruitment events
- "The Age of Biology: Opportunities in Biochemistry" program for High School Seniors interested in BMB - early Fall
- Coordinate visiting agendas including Flinn & National Merit Scholars with the College of Science and the Honors College
- Visit local High Schools & Middle Schools - semi-annually - career fairs - short presentations
- Meet your major - Fall - participated with 120 other majors - 5 BMB faculty and 10 BMB ambassadors present to answer questions
- Coordinator for Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, BMB, Academic Affairs for:
- Undergraduates
- Graduate Students
- Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics - Ph.D., MS (BS/MS - 5 year accelerated program)
- MS in General Biology
- Biological Molecular Cellular Biology
- Biological Chemistry Track (BMB, CHEM & Medicinal Chemistry)
- Maintain over 500 undergraduate and graduate records and monitor student progress and grades, using database that I developed for the department
- Assist in identifying potential BMB undergraduates for the MARC program - Minority Access to Research Careers Program
- Assist in identifying graduate students to be funded by Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity (IMSD) for Ph.D.s in Biomedical Sciences
- Assist students with registration, degree certification, grade and schedule changes, general advising inquiries, administrative paperwork for course work, and maintain advising materials and handbooks
- Assist with update on BMB website - information about requirements, courses, student profiles, directory, and announcements
- Coordinate with BMB Graphic artist on creating or updating program brochures, posters, announcements and web designs.
- Remind students and faculty about important deadlines for each semester
- Research activities that students are involved, advise on lab rotations for graduate students and assist undergraduate in preparation for completing their senior thesis
- Coordinate student awards - solicitation of awards - publicize awards - administer awards - order plaques etc for awards
- Served on student and faculty committees as needed - BMB awards selection committee - BCP fellowship selection committee - BCP graduate steering committee - BMB graduate student recruitment committee - BMB graduate program committee - BMB graduate review committee - BS/MS program committee - BMB undergraduate program committee - College of Science recruitment committee - BMB curriculum committee - College of Science commencement committee - BIO5 graduate committee - Graduate Coordinator/Graduate College
- Provide student statistics for annual reports, and for training grants
- Maintain six listserves
- Interaction with faculty and staff - on a daily basis
- Assist with Club activities - BMB undergraduate Club - Women in Biological Sciences (WIBS) - Innoworks organization - Forensicats Club
- Coordinate all events with BMB student ambassadors; currently there are 68 ambassadors, which include ambassador emerti • Maintain student alumni data, and keeping close contact with alumni by listserve and through correspondence
- Designed and coordinated annual family weekend event "BMB BBQ" - drawing more than 300 guests including students, faculty and families
- Assist with annual "Biology Bash" event - for undergraduate in biology majors to meet - provided announcements on web and posters - set up event area - participated in event along with assigned BMB ambassadors and faculty
- Undergraduate Student Peer Mentoring - continuously - Assist with undergraduate student peer mentoring program, new program for first year undergraduates and current BMB undergraduates to help the students in their first year have a smooth transition
- Coordinate poster Session for undergraduates presenting their research on senior thesis - May
- Designed and organized, the BMB awards/commencement program - 2nd annual event, this May, brings together all the graduating students, and those honor those that have received awards throughout the academic year, and honoring the BMB student ambassadors. Participants include BMB graduating students, award recipients, BMB student ambassadors, family, donors/guests, faculty and supporting staff
- Member of the College of Science Commencement program
- Selected by the committee to read the names of the graduates at the commencement program each semester
- Assist with BMB graduate & undergraduate student advising - answer general questions - refer students - schedule appointments - assign advisors to students
- Maintain schedule of classes, including scheduling rooms, order books
- Input of BMB faculty teaching load for each semester
- Assist with BMB graduate teaching assistants each semester - provide data on current graduate students that are interested in TA positions - provide students on schedule dates for required SPEAK test for international students that will be TA’s - provide scheduled dates for students to attend the required Graduate Associate Teaching Orientation, GATO, scheduled the beginning of each semester - administer BMB internal evaluations of TA’s - coordinate with the Graduate College on TA evaluations
- Maintain and administer course evaluations (5-10 scheduled classes) for graduate and undergraduate courses
- Maintain peer evaluations for BMB Jr. Faculty for tenure
- Assist in creating courses, course modifications, and course cancellations for BMB - assist teaching faculty on development of course, providing policies and procedures per the UA curriculum office - submit information to curriculum for approval, include all cross-listed departments for approval
- Network with multiple UA departments - to name a few - Arid Lands - BIO5 - Biomedical Engineering - Cancer Biology - Cell Biology & Anatomy - College of Agriculture & Life Sciences - Administration - College of Medicine - Administration - College of Science administration - Chemistry - Ecology & Evolutionary Biology - Family & Consumer Sciences - Graduate College o Admissions o Degree Certification o Administration o Graduate Interdisciplinary program - Medical Pharmacology - Medicinal Chemistry/Natural Products - Molecular Cellular Biology - Neuroscience - Pharmacology & Toxicology - Physics - Physiological Sciences - Plant Sciences - Veterinary Science/Microbiology