2025 GSAS Dean's Mentoring Award Goes to Music and History Faculty Members
April 1, 2025
Abigail Arnold | Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Bradford Garvey of Music and Amy Singer of History are the co-recipients of the 2025 Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Mentoring Award. Both received enthusiastic nominations from many students.
Charles Golden, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS), said, “It's an honor to recognize these faculty members for their accomplishments as mentors to graduate students. At a research university the work of faculty can often seem to be focused solely on research, artistic creation, and publication - all noble pursuits, to be sure. At Brandeis, though, those works of intellectual leadership are indivisible from our mentorship of the next generations in our fields. Reading the student nominations for this award is a potent and encouraging reminder of why so many of us choose to teach, nurture careers, and learn with our students, and I'm grateful for the work of so many colleagues at Brandeis.”
Garvey is an assistant professor of Music and the Director of Graduate Studies for the department. In their nominations, students praised him as a supportive faculty member who helped them grow as scholars and people. “Brad has been really dedicated to my growth and has helped me in countless ways to achieve my goals. We discuss weekly how to overcome major barriers and how to structure large pieces of works that are challenging for me to approach,” wrote one student. “He never does the job for me, but instead helps me understand what should be done in an educational way,” added another student. Students praised both Garvey’s work in one-on-one advising and his teaching in the classroom, with one commenting, “When Brad taught Musicology Lab, he was incredible. He wrote out these really lengthy how-tos for conferences, publication, research, and teaching guides that were incredible and that I still use today.”
When asked his thoughts on receiving the award, Garvey said, “I'm immensely honored to receive the Dean's Mentoring Award and humbled to be included alongside previous awardees whom I admire so much. Our excellent graduate students in Music inspire me at every meeting.” He praised the mentorship he himself received, saying, “I always strive to model my own advising after my PhD advisor, Jane Sugarman, who was both extremely patient with my research and writing process and uncompromising in her expectations for scholarship. I was very fortunate to have her as an advisor because she gave me so much permission to explore ideas and just as much support as I was submitting dissertation chapters. Later, when I was a visiting professor at Amherst College, I learned about mentoring from the perspective of a mentor--really a group of mentors--rather than as a student.” As a mentor, Garvey focuses on “presence and trust:” “Being a supportive presence means different things for different students, so I always try to clarify with students that a professional working relationship can and should be individual. I try to demonstrate how I value our students by working to their advantage as much as I can: identifying opportunities, sharing my own grant and dissertation planning materials, and inviting colloquia speakers who could serve as outside readers for dissertations, for example.”
Singer holds the Sylvia K. Hassenfeld Chair in Islamic Studies in the History department and is also the department’s Director of Graduate Studies. Students praised the support she gave them in that role. “Professor Singer goes above and beyond to make sure all graduate students in the History department are doing well in the program, informed, and cared for,” wrote one. “She has been an outstanding mentor and advocate for the graduate students in our department. She is consistently a model of professional conduct and gracious with advice about how to navigate life in the academy,” added another. Nominators particularly emphasized the extent to which Singer shared support and resources with all graduate students in the program, with one writing, “Professor Singer is the most supportive, available, and dedicated person I have ever met in academia. She devotes her best resources to taking care of everything academic and personal related to graduate students. She always keeps up to date with our work progress, makes sure to initiate events that bring department members and students together, and provides endless support through tips, letters of recommendation, conversations, and everything else a student could ask for.”
Responding to her receipt of the award, Singer said, “It is an honor to be nominated by the History graduate students for the GSAS Dean's Mentoring Award, and an equal honor to receive the award. I certainly draw on my own experiences, positive and negative, in deciding how best to support our graduate students. Over the years, I've also heard from colleagues and students about their experiences as students and mentors, filing away their observations and insights as inspiration and cautions. No one advisor can provide everything any single graduate student needs, and I remember how grateful I was to my own advisor for responding positively to my speaking to other faculty members about my work. I am grateful to everyone in our department and at GSAS for making it possible to support our grad students as well as we are able in these challenging times. And I applaud our History grad students for their enthusiasm, dedication and hard work. I'm not sure we could inspire you if you didn't inspire us.”
GSAS extends our warmest congratulations to Bradford Garvey and Amy Singer and thanks them for all that they do in mentoring and supporting students.