2026 Graduate Teaching & Mentoring Award Winners
2026 Graduate Teaching & Mentoring Award Winners
The University of Arizona Graduate College has named Michael D. L. Johnson, Associate Professor of Immunobiology, and Louise Marie Roth, Professor of Sociology, as recipients of the 2026 Graduate Teaching and Mentoring Award. The honor recognizes faculty whose teaching and mentorship transform the lives and careers of graduate students.
The awardees were nominated by their students, and both nomination packets were filled with letters from mentees describing mentors who meet people where they are and offer candid guidance, practical tools, and genuine care.
Michael D. L. Johnson: "Take failure as an opportunity"
Johnson's path to microbiology was not a straight line. He earned a bachelor's degree in music with a minor in chemistry from Duke University before completing a PhD in biochemistry and biophysics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He joined the University of Arizona in 2016 and today holds appointments across the university, including in the BIO5 Institute, the Valley Fever Center for Excellence, and the Asthma & Airway Disease Research Center. He also serves as Associate Dean for Basic Science and Graduate Studies in the College of Medicine–Tucson, and as Director of Graduate Studies for the Industrial Microbiology track in the Applied Biosciences program.
Johnson’s laboratory studies how copper poisons bacteria, work aimed at turning the metal's toxicity into a new class of antibiotics against pathogens including drug-resistant staph and the bacteria that cause pneumonia.
But it was his mentoring that drew students to write on his behalf.
One nominator, a doctoral student in immunobiology, wrote that Johnson’s greatest strength is "his genuine investment in the people he trains," noting that he tailors guidance to each student's goals, strengths, and challenges.
Another student described their relationship with Johnson as "the strongest mentor-mentee relationship of my academic career," praising Johnson's ability to know "when to challenge students to help them grow and when to give them the space and independence needed to develop confidence as scientists." The student added that Johnson's regular one-on-one meetings go beyond experiments and career plans to check in on students as people, and that despite already being an exceptional mentor, Johnson continues to seek out additional mentoring training.
A third student highlighted a phrase Johnson repeats often in the lab: "an experiment without failure is not truly an experience; when you encounter failure, experience it and take it as an opportunity." The nominator said that mindset reshaped how they approach research, turning troubleshooting from a setback into part of the scientific process. The student also pointed to Johnson's smaller "pod meetings," where students rehearse presentations and get feedback in a supportive setting before facing larger audiences.
Another nominator credited Johnson's encouragement with helping them earn their first publication within a year of joining the lab, and noted that Johnson remained available and supportive through a difficult family situation, all while juggling appointments in multiple departments and an associate dean's role.
Johnson's mentorship extends well past his own lab. He directs the National Summer Undergraduate Research Project (a virtual research program that connects students nationwide to research mentors) the BIO5 Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, and has served as chair of the American Society for Microbiology's Future Leaders Mentoring Program. His honors include the American Society for Microbiology's William A. Hinton Award, recognition among Cell Mentor's "100 Inspiring Black Scientists in America," a Duke Alumni Changemaker Award, and the 2026 ASM Honorary Diversity Lecturer Award.
Louise Marie Roth: “Demystifying the hidden curriculum”
Roth earned her PhD in sociology from New York University in 2000 and has spent her entire faculty career at the University of Arizona, where she has been a Professor of Sociology since 2020 and is a faculty affiliate in Gender & Women's Studies. She studies gender, work, family, law, and reproductive health, and is the author of two books: Selling Women Short: Gender and Money on Wall Street and The Business of Birth: Malpractice and Maternity Care in the United States.
Since 2023 she has served as Director of Graduate Studies for the School of Sociology, a role her students say she has reinvented.
One of her nominators described Roth's approach as "devoted and tailored," writing that she is "always responsive to the student in front of her rather than teaching or mentoring toward an abstract graduate student archetype." The nominator noted that Roth designs course reading lists and assignments that double as preparation for comprehensive exams, teaches a year-round sequence of professional development courses (from first-year orientation to conference presentations to navigating the job market), and has expanded those courses to include non-academic career paths. Roth also developed grading rubrics for theses and dissertations so that students face clear expectations at the program's biggest milestones.
Another nominator wrote about a particularly challenging experience: failing a comprehensive exam that Roth helped grade. Rather than smoothing it over, Roth showed the student exactly where their argument broke down, reminded them that students bounce back, and helped them prepare. The student passed on the second attempt with few revisions. "Rather than simply passing me through," they wrote, Roth "encouraged me to become a better researcher and writer."
A third nominator, who took Roth's writing and professionalization course twice—once as a new student and again while preparing for the job market—noted that her candid feedback "always came paired with a clear sense of how to improve. She has never left a student without a path forward.”
Other nominators described Roth as a lifeline. One student wrote that when they ran into immigration problems, Roth fought to keep them enrolled, helped arrange funding, and stayed in weekly contact while the student resolved the visa abroad. Another student recalled that Roth not only walked them through publishing a paper but, in the same conversation, recommended preschools for his children.
As the nomination letter puts it, Roth has succeeded in "demystifying the hidden curriculum of academia."
About the award
The Graduate Teaching and Mentoring Award is administered by the University of Arizona Graduate College and honors faculty nominated by graduate students for excellence in graduate instruction, advising, and mentorship. More information can be found at https://grad.arizona.edu/faculty-and-staff/award-nominations/about-graduate-teaching-and-mentoring-award.
