Richard Durán surprised an a Department of Education meeting with the news he was named an Outstanding Graduate Mentor
Richard Durán, Professor in the Department of Education at UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School, has received a 2017-18 Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award. Mentoring graduate students is a vital component of UCSB’s mission as a research university; it includes training graduate students for careers in research and training, and preparing them to meet the highest professional and ethical standards as scholars and educators. Up to three recipients are selected campus-wide, each of whom receives an honorarium of $1,000 and a framed certificate. UC Santa Barbara’s Academic Senate will honor Durán’s achievements as an exemplary mentor at the Faculty Legislature meeting on April 19, 2018.
Richard Durán is a professor in the Department of Education at the Gevirtz School and an affiliate of the UCSB Office of Educational Partnerships. Since joining the GSE faculty in 1984, Professor Duran has carried out a research program investigating learning and culture itself as socially constructed. A Fellow of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), he centers his research interests on assessment, literacy, and learning of persons from varied language and cultural backgrounds, but they are not confined solely to learning in school settings. He is deeply involved in implementing outreach interventions improving college preparation and college access among youths from backgrounds underrepresented in higher education. Durán’s recent research also involves working with undergraduate and graduate students on how to use computers to assist youths to learn STEM skills in after school learning settings. This latter research is being supported in part by the UC Office of the President UC Links Project.