Thota Receives 2025 ADVANCE Faculty Peer Mentoring Award
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Neena Thota, associate chair of teaching development and senior teaching faculty at the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS), has been announced as a recipient of the Spring 2025 ADVANCE Faculty Peer Mentoring Award. The award, administered by the UMass ADVANCE program, recognizes faculty members who make significant contributions to mentoring and supporting the professional development of their colleagues.
Nominators describe how Thota's “energetic support” has professionally benefited her colleagues. From one-on-one mentoring to leading discussions in mentoring meetings for early faculty, Thota “helps new faculty hone their teaching skills and tackle challenges with confidence,” says one nominator. Early faculty especially value her leadership in promoting the holistic evaluation of teaching within the college.
Her leadership of two undergraduate research programs was described as a “game changer,” both for students and faculty to learn how to include undergraduates in their own research projects. Additionally, Thota is described as “tireless and fierce” in her dedication to supporting other instructors, “making their work environment not only welcoming, but empowering.”
“Mentorship has enabled me to expand and build relationships not only with faculty at our college but also across campus,” reflects Thota. “Sharing my experiences and insights has allowed me to reflect on and improve my own teaching. There is a sense of fulfillment in helping others to improve how our students learn.”
The winners were selected from a competitive pool of nominees and honored by Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, and Wilmore Webley, senior vice provost for equity and inclusion, at the ADVANCE Annual Distinguished Lecture and Awards Ceremony held on March 10, 2025.
“I am honored to be recognized by my peers, and it inspires me to do better at onboarding new faculty and supporting the teaching efforts of my colleagues,” says Thota. “I see the award as recognition of the empowering opportunity to give back to the community.”
Thota joined the CICS faculty in 2016. She has received multiple recognitions for research, teaching, and service, including her roles as a 2024-2025 Chancellor’s Leadership Fellow, a 2023-2025 Faculty Fellow for the Institute of Diversity Sciences, and as the Lead for Education: Expeditions in Computing for Computational Decarbonization of Societal Infrastructures as Mesoscales. Her current research interests are in computing education research, educational technologies, learning and assessment taxonomies, and methodological frameworks for research.
