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2008 Award - Call for Nominations

In a letter to Provost Phyllis Wise, Vice Provost and Graduate Dean Suzanne T. Ortega announces the Distinguished Mentor Award recipient for 2008.

A list of previous recipients is made available here.

 Telephone: (206)543-5900
Fax: (206)685-3234

February 15, 2008

Dr. Phyllis Wise

Provost and Executive Vice President

Box 351237

Dear Phyllis:

I am pleased to recommend that Dr. Thomas P. Quinn, Professor of Aquatic & Fishery Sciences, be selected as the recipient of the 2008 Marsha L. Landolt Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award.  This letter conveys the background information upon which the selection was made.  The selection committee reviewed over 330 letters of nomination for 66 members of the University of Washington Graduate Faculty.  The ad hoc committee that reviewed the nominations included:

·         Juan Guerra, Associate Dean, The Graduate School

·         Elizabeth Feetham, Associate Dean, The Graduate School

·         Noel Weiss, Professor, Epidemiology, 1999 award recipient

·         Savannah Grace Baltera, GPSS representative, Music graduate student

·         David Notkin, Professor and Frank & Wilma Bradley Chair, Computer Science & Engineering, 2000 Award recipient

·         Judy Howard, Divisional Dean, Arts & Sciences, 2001 award recipient

·         Tom Daniel, Professor and Chair, Biology, 2002 award recipient

·         Charles Keyes, Professor, Anthropology and International Studies, 2003 award recipient

·         Joel Migdal, Robert F. Philip Professor of International Studies, 2006 award recipient

A number of the nominees received multiple letters expressing glowing praise for their mentors. In the course of the committee’s deliberations, two candidates emerged as being uniquely worthy of recognition.  In addition to Professor Quinn, the finalists for the award were Professor Richard Strathmann (Biology and Friday Harbor Laboratories) and Professor Stephen J. Burges (Civil & Environmental Engineering).  Both have been acknowledged with citations of “honorable mention.” 

The call for nominations for the Landolt Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award noted that, “...the relationship between a graduate student and a faculty advisor is one that can have a profound lifelong influence on both parties.  At its best, this mentoring relationship inspires and gives confidence to the student while providing the faculty member with a valued colleague.”  Since the award’s inception in 1999, Professor Quinn has been nominated five times (1999, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008), and was an “honorable mention” in 2007.    

This year, Professor Quinn’s file received 36 nominations from current and past students,  peers and colleagues, all of whom gave superlative praise for his mentoring efforts.  It is difficult to synopsize all of feedback and inspirational remarks which his recommenders provided us; however, the following are a few of the quotes from his supporting nomination letters.

• “I think perhaps the best way to describe Professor Quinn is to give you a little context as to who I am and why I chose him as an advisor. I am 42 years old and decided to go back to school to attain my PhD. I have a wife and 2 children, as well as a full-time job. My life was complete before deciding to go back to school. I have worked and spoken to Professor Quinn in the past and realized that even at my age and professional level I could learn a tremendous amount. Professor Quinn understands my commitments, and inspires me to be as productive as I can be in all aspects of my life. He does this for all his students, whether they are 22 or 42 years old. I do not know of many faculty who can inspire the range of students Professor Quinn has and still does today.”

• “[P]erhaps the greatest testament to Tom’s commitment is illustrated by one of his students who did not finish. In the fall of 1992, one of Tom's Ph.D. students (John Konecki) died in an airplane accident, leaving his dissertation far from finished. Tom promised John's parents that he would see the work through to completion. With the help of another student (Carol Woody), three papers were eventually published from John's data. This effort was not motivated by the need for more publications (Tom certainly had enough) but rather by a desire to show what John had accomplished, to share that information with the scientific community, and to provide the epitaph that John would have wanted. This above all reflects Tom's commitment to his graduate students and stands out to me as his greatest achievement.”

• “In my much more modest efforts to mentor graduate students interested in an academic track I always point to Dr. Quinn as an example of what can be done, but caution them that to be that successful they have to work as hard as Dr. Quinn does.”

• “[One] key characteristics that sets Dr. Quinn apart is his sincere desire to not only conceive of interesting scientific questions, but to get dirty in the field and collect data to investigate those questions.  In the summer of 2005 Dr. Quinn ensured that his summer schedule would accommodate a trip to my remote field site in southwest Alaska.  Where I conduct research is off the beaten path, even by Alaska standards, and Dr. Quinn’s desire to come help with my research again solidified his resolve to see all ‘his’ students succeed.  It became evident immediately that Dr. Quinn had come to help collect data and learn about the unique system.  While other guests were preoccupied with the sweeping landscape and charismatic fauna, Dr. Quinn and I worked together to catch, measure, weigh, and dissect juvenile sockeye salmon thereby allowing me to uncover intriguing patterns of competition and community ecology.”

• “While being a devoted and successful scientist, Tom is also an inspiring example of balancing personal life and career.  He is not only a scientist, but also a photographer, fisherman, diver, and father.  Through this balance, he gives hope to those of us who also hope to balance faculty jobs and families. 

• “The successes of Tom’s mentoring are apparent.  He inspires undergraduates to attend graduate school through his teaching.  His current graduate students are happy, confident, insightful, and generous.  I have watched his graduate students gain confidence and skills, boosted by his support.  His former graduate students have been successful in their post-graduate careers—many are scattered across the continent now in competitive faculty positions.”

• “In this area of intellectual leadership Tom left an indelible impression on me. One simple but profound teaching from Tom that I have always remembered and that I use in my field work routinely is that ‘the fish are always right’. Tom always told me to let the fish inform us, let them tell their story, let us learn from them. I have never been disappointed when I successfully built this principle into my field work.

• “While the project was relatively high profile, Tom always made sure that I got plenty of credit for my work. I have since witnessed professional jealousy and seen credit not only withheld but stolen from subordinates. Tom was always very generous in giving credit to me, both privately and publicly. He was continually building my confidence by working with me behind the scenes and then publicly encouraging me to engage others in discussions of our work. On more than one occasion I gave presentations of our results at workshops and conferences that Tom could easily have done himself. Looking back on those occasions I now realize that it was through these that I honed and polished much of the speaking and presentation skills that I now have. Tom let me do these presentations, unselfishly letting me take center stage.”

• “Tom’s most unique skill as a scientist-mentor is his ability to inspire with the unknown. Rather than stressing what has already been studied, Tom is able to present science as a landscape of opportunity, each blank on the map an opportunity for new and successful research.”

• “Tom has an eye for characteristics other than strict academics that make for good students, good researchers, and eventually good professional scientists. The students of his that I have known personally have all been outstanding people—not just good students. I and several of his other students have been distinguished by winning the Faculty Merit Award here at SAFS- I have to believe that Tom being our mentor is a large part of this- success starts at the top. Tom currently has 10 full-time graduate students under his supervision and all are active, vibrant members of the SAFS research community. The legacy of his prior students is both impressive and humbling; they are successful in academia (as tenure track faculty, post-doctorate researchers, and some transitioning into doctorate programs) and the professional world (as research scientists in federal, state, county, and municipal agencies).”

• “As a young graduate student, I knew almost immediately that I was being trained by a scientist of exceptional ability.  Today, I recognize that most of what I have accomplished as a professional can be traced directly to Tom’s guidance.  Much of this education came out of the many hours we shared examining data, editing manuscripts and discussing research ideas.  But with the passage of time, I have come to realize that my professional growth has been due to more than just the acquisition of research skills.  In Tom I discovered the human qualities that produce extraordinary achievement.  Through his mentoring, Tom opened my eyes to the fact that science was an exciting and creative process, which rewarded the adventurous and imaginative mind.  He taught me that success required the courage to stand for a belief even at the risk of standing alone.  He also showed me that such confidence must be accompanied by modesty and integrity, and an appreciation of scientific inquiry as an interactive and cooperative process.  These and other lessons profoundly affected my professional growth and development, and serve as a testimony to Tom’s talents as an educator.”

In the course of reviewing each year’s nomination pool, members of the selection committee comment that they are awed by the letters written on behalf of the nominees and are uplifted to see the wealth of graduate mentors at the University of Washington.  While it is an immensely difficult decision to select only one person for the award, the committee agreed that Professor Quinn is most deserving of this year’s Marsha L. Landolt Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award. 

Sincerely,

Suzanne T. Ortega

Vice Provost and Dean

Enclosures

cc:        Mark Emmert, President

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