Three years ago, the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington created the Distinguished Mentor Award to recognize tenure-track and instructional faculty known for their mentoring of students and peers. This award recognizes a career of distinguished mentoring not recognized in other ways.
The two faculty members honored with the award for 2024 are Tuli Mukhopadhyay, professor in the Department of Biology, and Jeffrey Holdeman, senior lecturer in the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures.
Tuli Mukhopadhyay
Mukhopadhyay said of the honor, “I was really happy when I heard I won the award because I felt like I had passed along to others, or paid forward, the things I learned during my career from my mentors. I am glad people benefited from talking and working with me, and I hope they will help other scientists. It has been nice to see how junior faculty I helped are now promoted and helping others. I enjoy seeing that, and I think that is important in science, especially among women and historically marginalized groups.
“There is not one specific person who taught me how to mentor, but Rebecca Dutch and Mavis Agbandje-McKenna (sadly, she has passed away) are two people I have looked up to and learned from during my career. They are, in my mind, intelligent and creative scientists, forward thinkers who open the doors for others, treat people with respect but are straightforward in their feedback. Their attitudes were the same in their science and non-science worlds, which I really appreciate. I think there are many excellent mentors at IU just as deserving of this award; I just got lucky and got the award.”
Armin Moczek, Biology professor and department chair, said, “Tuli exemplifies the best of what it means to be an impactful mentor, from junior faculty to trainees, from within the department to beyond its boundaries, and through both her formal commitments but also her countless informal mentoring efforts. It truly cannot be overstated how important such deliberate and informed mentoring is in creating and sustaining a welcoming and supportive work environment.”
Jeffrey Holdeman
To Holdeman, being honored with the Distinguished Mentor Award is confirmation that he’s continuing the line of superb mentors that he was gifted during his studies, especially during his undergraduate studies and beyond.
“I strive to emulate the excellent mentors I have had throughout my life,” said Holdeman, “and also be the mentor that I wish I had had at key moments in my life when I felt lost, confused, overlooked, unnoticed, underappreciated, anxious, out of place, unwelcomed, and unsure of options and directions to take.”
His most formative mentors came to him as he studied at the University of Tennessee Knoxville – his Russian professor Dr. James Falen and his Tennessee Scholars director Dr. Bruce Wheeler.
“Dr. Falen’s door was always open to me,” Holdeman explained, “and we would sit for hours talking about Russian literature, Russian language, and life, and I never felt rushed or out of place. He shared problems he was wrestling with in his work and always treated me like a colleague in the making. Dr. Wheeler was always the magical helper who appeared on my hero’s quest with a solution to an overwhelming problem, or who worked behind the scenes on my behalf like the elves helping the poor shoemaker who would wake up in the morning to find his shoes perfectly finished.”
To this day, his mentors influence him and how he mentors his students.
“I try to model them in my work, so that every student who has had me has vicariously had my mentors as well,” he said.
According to Dr. Russell Valentino, chair and professor in the Department of East European Languages and Cultures, “The award of ‘Distinguished Mentor’ is a highly appropriate and absolutely deserved acknowledgment of the great impact that Dr. Holdeman has had on multiple generations of our students and graduates. His attention to our students from the moment they arrive, sometimes even before they arrive, and for many years after they graduate, is truly exemplary.”
About the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington
The College of Arts and Sciences is the beating heart of Indiana University Bloomington and traces its roots to IU’s founding in 1820. Part of a leading R1 (Research 1) university, the College has more than 70 academic departments offering undergraduate and graduate degrees within and across the natural and mathematical sciences, the arts, the humanities, and the social sciences. In addition, the College is home to the Media School, the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, and the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design.
College faculty are groundbreaking researchers and dedicated teachers and mentors to students. With an array of options, opportunities, and experiences to choose from, students are able to prepare for fulfilling work as well as a meaningful life. More than 90 percent of our undergraduates report a successful career outcome six months after graduation. Learn more at college.indiana.edu.