Professor of Nursing and Medicine Heidi Donovan, PhD, RN, will be receiving one of four Provost’s Awards for Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring for 2025.
Each year, the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring recognizes outstanding mentorship of graduate students seeking a research doctorate degree.
As a mentor and the PhD Program Director for the School of Nursing, Donovan has had a tremendous impact on many students striving to complete their educational goals.
Donovan has mentored 19 PhD students and nine post-doctoral students across multiple disciplines throughout her career at Pitt. Through her hands-on approach to mentoring, she has witnessed students excel in their research and achieve their career goals and aspirations. Donovan treats her mentees as apprentices, integrating them into her research team. She helps refine their research interests and ensures that students are seeking internal research funding and scholarships, eventually leading to national or foundation research training opportunities, showcasing her dedication to empowering her mentees to reach their full potential.
She works with her mentees to prepare them for job opportunities and post-doctoral applications. Some of Donovan’s mentees have become faculty members at research- intensive universities such as the University of Pittsburgh, University of Iowa, University of Nebraska, and University of Basel, while others have taken on clinical or industry positions with Highmark and Mackenzie consultant groups.
Several nursing faculty members, including Teresa Thomas, PhD, BA, RN and Sarah Belcher, PhD, RN, OCN, were mentored throughout their PhD programs by Donovan and are now outstanding mentors in their own rights, carrying on a tradition of student advocacy, apprenticeship, and attentive mentoring modeled by Donovan.
“[Donovan] has actively engaged me throughout her research program, nurtured my scientific discovery, and demonstrated by example how to be an engaged, civically minded scientist and academician fully dedicated to the growth of her mentees,” said Thomas in her letter recommending Donovan receive this recognition.
“My mentoring philosophy is rooted in the belief that every student brings unique strengths, aspirations, and potential,” Donovan said. “I strive to create an environment where students feel empowered to explore their interests and articulate their goals.”
Donovan will be awarded a cash prize of $2,500 in recognition.
See this year’s award listings for the Provost’s Awards for Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring.