In an academic year when advising and mentoring has meant a significant amount to students, Nitsan Chorev is one of two recipients of this year’s Faculty Award for Advising and Mentoring. Chorev was nominated by seventeen current and former students. She is the Harmon Family Professor of Sociology and International and Public Affairs and Director of the Graduate Program in Development at the Watson Institute.

In their nominations, students repeatedly mention how Chorev has made a difference in their academic lives, including how she supports and genuinely cares for students as scholars and individuals, the excellent feedback she provides on writing and ideas, and the advice and ongoing mentorship she imparts even after they have left Brown.

Chorev “cares for her students both as professional scholars-in-training and as private individuals with diverse personalities and emotional needs,” says Irene Pang, an Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University and former Brown graduate student. Another student shared that when their degree progress and fieldwork was stalled by the global pandemic, Chorev encouraged creative solutions to delays in research, advised on grant proposals, and regularly checked to make sure they were doing well both academically and personally during a very uncertain time.

Chorev has advised students across many topics and guides students to become their own best scholars. Her nominators describe how she has helped illuminate the inner workings of academia to be successful post-graduation. She has offered students support in grant applications and fellowships, offering invaluable advice. Numerous students highlighted Chorev’s ability to provide written and verbal feedback was incredibly helpful in furthering their research ideas. 

“Her feedback skilfully draws out the weakest links in my arguments, while then showing me how to reconstruct my arguments more convincingly. Nitsan’s analytical skills are unparalleled,” says Ricarda Hammer, Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology.

Chorev herself shares that “this is a particularly meaningful award for me. It reminded me, in the best way possible, that what I enjoy most about my work is not the production of ideas as such but the exchange of ideas. It made me happy to know that my students appreciate the experience of working together at least as much as I do!”