Professor Ricarda Hammer has been selected by the Graduate Council's Advisory Committee for GSI Affairs and the GSI Teaching & Resource Center as a winner of the 2026 Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentorship of GSIs. Congratulations, Prof. Hammer, for this richly deserved honor!
The award recognizes faculty (including both Senate and non-Senate faculty) who have provided GSIs outstanding mentorship in teaching at Berkeley and in preparing for teaching in future careers. Faculty receive this award based on nominations from their GSIs. To quote from the Sociology GSIs who nominated Prof. Hammer:
"As current and former GSIs in the Sociology Department, we have experienced Professor Hammer’s mentorship as both intellectually rigorous and practically transformative. She equips GSIs with concrete skills needed to teach effectively at Berkeley—especially in multi-section settings where coherence and fairness matter—while also preparing us for future teaching careers by modeling ethical, inclusive, and high-impact instruction."