Felix Berardo Scholarship Award for Mentoring

2023 Recipient — Daphne C. Hernandez, Ph.D.

Purpose

The Felix Berardo Scholarship Award for Mentoring is given in honor of Dr. Felix Berardo, a well-known and beloved professor from the University of Florida, who went above and beyond expectations in mentoring many students to become outstanding leaders in the family field. The award recognizes an NCFR member for excellence in mentoring junior colleagues, graduate students, or undergraduates. Outstanding mentoring goes beyond classroom teaching and includes the provision of support, guidance, and opportunities for professional development.

Award

The annual award is recognized with a plaque and a $500 stipend which are presented at a plenary session at the NCFR Annual Conference. Thank you to the Advancing Family Science Section for administering the award beginning in 2019.

Criteria

  • The recipient must be a member of NCFR at the time of nomination and receipt of the award.
  • Nominations should be made by one person whose nomination letter should present a rationale for the award and should address the impact of the mentor on the field through a history of mentorship over a sustained period of time.
  • Letters of support are to be submitted by three or more mentees. These letters should provide evidence of outstanding mentoring. Self-nominations are not accepted although nominees must be willing to be nominated.
  • The mentoring work may be a part of the nominee's job description, but it must exceed the level of the typical performance of the nominee's position.
  • The nominated mentor and nominating mentee must not be relatives.
  • Members of the Felix Berardo Scholarship for Mentoring Award committee may not nominate mentors nor be eligible as award winners during their terms of service.
  • Mentors who are nominated and do not receive the award are not eligible to be nominated again for at least three years.

Nomination/application process

  • Complete the application form.
  • Attach a note, signed by the nominee, indicating his/her willingness to be nominated, except if the mentor is deceased. Deceased mentors are eligible for posthumous nomination, although (if selected) the stipend is not disbursed.
  • Berardo Award Committee members may not nominate a mentor nor be eligible as an award recipient during their terms of service.
  • Include a letter of nomination that addresses what makes the nominee an outstanding mentor and how the nominee has been successful in moving the field of family science forward through their mentoring practices. If the nominee’s CV does not clearly demonstrate the number of formal mentoring relationships with students and junior colleagues, please include that information here.
  • Include letters of support from three or more mentees. Letters should describe the length of the mentoring relationship, and provide evidence of outstanding mentoring to junior colleagues, graduate students and/or undergraduates beyond the classroom.  
  • Include nominated mentor’s updated vitae. CV should demonstrate the number of formal mentoring relationships with students and junior colleagues.

Should circumstances disclose a confidential situation, the application must provide the details; however, information is kept private. For example, if a mentee has a life-threatening illness and the mentor made it possible through independent study for the mentee to complete a semester from a hospital bed, he/she might not want it made public.

Deadlines

  • May 1: Application deadline. Email all materials to Membership.
  • July 31: The recipient will be notified by this date.

Find the award nomination form here.