Bicyclist riding on a path that cuts through a field, and overlooks the ocean.

Equity-Minded Mentoring
Certificate Program

About the Program

Are you a graduate student or postdoc in a STEM or Social Sciences field who is interested in refining your mentorship skills to build inclusive, supportive research environments? If so, consider participating in the TLC’s Equity-Minded Mentoring Certificate Program. In this program, you and your colleagues will meet bi-weekly (5 sessions total) during Winter quarter to explore and practice evidence-based strategies that have been shown to support underrepresented students in research settings, particularly those from racially minoritized groups, including:

  • Establishing clear expectations for the mentoring relationship;
  • Communicating effectively and with attention to how different life experiences, identities, and positions of power shape participation in and experiences in STEM and Social Sciences fields;
  • Promoting students’ sense of belonging and research identities.

In between our bi-weekly meetings, you will have the opportunity to engage with recent literature on equitable mentoring, draft your own mentoring philosophy, and engage in thoughtful peer review of your colleagues’ mentoring philosophies. 

Join us if you’d like to be part of a new generation of researchers committed to changing research culture through equity-minded mentoring!

Participants commit to attending the entire series of workshops. With the support of the program facilitators and their peers, participants implement new mentoring strategies and prepare materials that are relevant to their current and future teaching and mentoring contexts and that are useful in the development of a teaching/mentoring portfolio. Upon completion of the workshops, graduate students and postdocs receive a professional development certificate indicating their successful completion of the learning goals and activities of the program.

How to Participate

Winter 2025 Program Dates & Modality

The Winter 2025 program consists of five interactive workshops on every other Tuesday at 9:00 AM–11:30 AM (Pacific Time) on the following schedule:

  • Tuesday, January 14 (Week 2)
  • Tuesday, January 28 (Week 4)
  • Tuesday, February 11 (Week 6)
  • Tuesday, February 25 (Week 8)
  • Tuesday, March 11 (Week 10)

These workshops are designed for in-person attendance. A remote (Zoom) option can be made available for grads and postdocs with accessibility requirements.

Participants commit to attending all 5 interactive workshops and to completing readings and activities with the structured support of the learning community.

For additional information about the program, please contact tlc@ucsc.edu.


Winter 2025 Cohort

Graduate Students

  • Maneesha Ampagouni, Mathematics
  • Julia Baer, Ocean Sciences
  • Tina Cai, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Reefat Inum, Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Keya Jonnalagadda, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
  • Maya McElfish, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Jenica Moore, Politics
  • Michael Sharma, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
  • Nikolas Webster, Linguistics

Postdoctoral Scholars & Staff

  • Elizabeth Bailey, Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Samuel Bogan, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Conard Fihn, Chemistry and Biochemistry
  • Reza Goljani Amirkhiz, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Alka Gupta, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
  • Paige Kouba, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Brianna Lacy, Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Anjali Misra, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
  • Yanzhen Nie, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
  • Anjana Parandhaman, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Alessandra Rodriguez y Baena, Biomolecular Engineering
  • Marcel Rommel, Biomolecular Engineering
  • Estefania Sanchez Vasquez, Biomolecular Engineering
  • Emily Belko, Creating Equity in STEM (crEST)

Last modified: Jan 13, 2025