Graduate School of Education: 0606mahiri.html

Jabari Mahiri, Associate Professor of Language and Literacy, Society and Culture, has been awarded the Leon Henkin Citation for Distinguished Service, which is presented to a faculty member for "exceptional commitment to the educational development of students from groups who are underrepresented in the academy."

Mahiri is only the third recipient of the Citation, which is given by the Committee on Student Diversity and Academic Development of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate. Leon Henkin, Professor Emeritus in the Mathematics Department was the first recipient; the second was Caroline Kane, Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology, who chairs the Committee on Student Diversity and Academic Development.

Since 2000, professor Mahiri has been faculty advisor and chair for 13 completed GSE dissertations. Seven of these graduates are persons of color. One of them, Ernest Morrell, was the first African American male to receive a doctorate in Language, Literacy and Culture (LLC) and is now an assistant professor at UCLA. Five more of his students are expected to complete their dissertations this year.

"My old graduate students are now coming back with their graduate students and calling me 'granddad,'" Jabari joked after accepting the Citation on June 6. "Working with a diverse group of students has been one of the most rewarding parts of my work."

This is the first year that a general announcement went out for nominees. More than 20 of Professor Mahiri's current and former students responded with impassioned letters of support. Many of them attended the ceremony and luncheon in his honor.

"He has been the most supportive professor in my graduate career this far," wrote Dawn Williams, a fourth-year doctoral candidate in LLC, "and he continues to inspire greatness in each of his students."