Cheryl Geisler Award for outstanding mentor

The Cheryl Geisler Award for Outstanding Mentor is presented biennially at the RSA conference. This award honors individuals who during their careers have demonstrated exceptional commitment to mentoring through such activities as guiding, supporting, and promoting the education, training and career development of their students or junior colleagues.

SELECTION COMMITTEE

In consultation with the RSA President and the Chair of the Committee on Committees and no later than December of the year prior to the award date, the ASC Chair identifies three RSA members to serve on the Geisler award selection committee. 

• The Chair of the selection committee may be a member of the Awards Steering Committee or may be drawn from the RSA membership. 
• The other three members of the committee should reflect the diversity of rhetorical studies with regard to rank, institution type, and identity categories.

ELIGIBILITY

All RSA members are eligible to be nominated for the Geisler Award.

REVIEW PROCESS

Nominations are reviewed by the Geisler Award selection committee, a sub-committee of the Awards Steering Committee, which recommends winners to the Board for final approval. 

In reviewing nominations to the Geisler Award, the selection committee considers:

• The nominee’s history of mentorship, including intentional development of mentoring skills, consistent support for undergraduate and graduate students and junior colleagues, and involvement in formal mentoring structures above and beyond those expected by the nominee’s professional positions. 
• How the nominee’s mentorship practices contribute to the Society’s IDEA and/or social justice values.
• The “ripple effect” of the nominee’s mentorship practice beyond specific individual relationships. 
• The extent of the nominee’s “invisible labor” of mentorship, carrying additional burdens because of or to intentionally mitigate the effects of structural.

Deadline for nominations: March 1, 2026.

CONFLICt OF INTEREST FOR THE Geisler AWARD

It is expected that members of the selection committee may have previous working relationships with nominees for Geisler Award. Before beginning deliberation, members of the committee will disclose their potential conflicts of interest and develop a plan for mitigating those conflicts. Any member who feels they cannot fairly evaluate a nominee will abstain from ranking that nominee.

Ratified by the RSA Board of Directors May 23, 2014, Amended July 2020