When
Where
Community Speaker: Dr. Celeste Atkins, Director of Student Engagement and Recruitment in the Graduate College
Friday 9/6 Meinel 410 Noon - 1 pm Food Provided!
Students and faculty are encouraged to attend.
Talk Abstract:
Dr. Atkins will be discussing the importance of strategic planning and creating a mentoring universe. Mentoring was once seen as a one-to-one relationship with an all-knowing guru senior as a mentor providing teaching and insight to a disciple. This mentorship approach is outdated and ineffective in today’s academic environment. Dr Atkins will share evidence-based best practices in mentorship to better network and find the support needed to thrive in graduate school and beyond.
Bio:
Dr. Celeste Atkins is an educator by passion. She began her educational career as a community college student at Mount San Antonio College. She earned her BA in sociology from California State University San Bernardino and an MA in sociology from the University of Southern California, both emphasizing race and gender. She received her doctorate in Higher Education in 2021 from the University of Arizona’s Center for the Study of Higher Education. Her dissertation focused on the experiences of faculty from traditionally marginalized backgrounds teaching about privilege and oppression in sociology classrooms. Her research interests derived from her experiences as a full-time sociology instructor and department chair at Cochise College in Sierra Vista from 2011 to 2020.
After serving students at Cochise College as a full-time faculty and as a Department Chair for 5 years, Dr. Atkins transitioned to the University of Arizona as a full-time staff. She has served as an Instructional Designer and as Assistant Director of Faculty Mentoring Initiatives. In October 2022, Dr. Atkins joined the Office of Diversity and Inclusion in the Graduate College where she serves as the Director of Student Engagement and Recruitment. In that position, she supports underrepresented and underserved students in the Initiative for Maximizing Student Development. She is also piloting as part of an HSI Fellows project a holistic peer mentoring program for graduate students called Graduate Communities for Academic Fellowship and Efficacy – known colloquially as Grad CAFE.