By Rick Vacek | Sept. 5, 2023
Helping others has become second nature for Dr. Rashaunda Henderson. No wonder her assistance is considered first rate.
“I know how people have helped me. It’s what has made me realize that I have to help people as well,” said the Eugene McDermott Professor of electrical engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) at UT Dallas.
This spring, Henderson was named the inaugural winner of the Provost’s Award for Faculty Mentoring, in recognition of her work as official faculty mentor for Dr. Ifana Mahbub, an ECS assistant professor.
In nominating Henderson for the award, Mahbub wrote, “I liked her helping mentality and positive attitude, which makes her a wonderful colleague, mentor and friend.”
A few days before, Henderson’s work with students was honored with the Rudolf E. Henning Distinguished Mentoring Award at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference (WAMICON).
And during the conference, one of Henderson’s former UT Dallas students, Shakthi Priya Gowri MS’18, was the presenting author for the best conference paper award.
Henderson had spent time with Mahbub at previous IEEE conferences and was instrumental in her decision to come to UT Dallas.
“I always just try to give her a full perspective – not just how I would do it or UTD’s way of doing things,” Henderson said. “Even when she was deliberating about which university she should consider, I just listened and offered my advice. I explained to her the reason I chose to come here.
“Ultimately, she decided that this would be the right place for her, and I figured we would continue to collaborate.”
That was formalized when they were assigned as a mentor-mentee pairing in the Faculty Mentoring Program. They didn’t wait for the Monthly Mentor-Mentee Coffee and Chat to get together – now that they were in the same building, Mahbub could just go upstairs to get her questions answered.
“We didn’t have fixed meeting times. It was kind of impromptu,” Mahbub said.
Impromptu then prompted them to take advantage of the workshops and coffee chats that are the backbone of the mentoring program.
“Those events are valuable because they take you out of the normal work environment,” Henderson said.
Henderson fondly recalls her early days at UT Dallas, when she was part of a group of newcomers who would go to lunch with a longtime faculty member and just listen.
By joining the Faculty Mentoring Program, new faculty members can receive that same benefit.
“You’re going to have so much time in your office, in your lab, doing what you do, but you have to get out,” Henderson said. “This mentoring program is a great way to network and meet other faculty.”
And meeting those other faculty has an inevitable result.
“This program is empowering you to ask questions,” Henderson said. “It’s helping faculty realize you’re not in it alone and can and should find resources to help you understand what’s going on in your institution and what you need to know.
“We don’t get here on our own.”