Doctoral student awarded UCI Promising Future Faculty Award

Ta-Yang (Diane) Hsieh recognized for outstanding graduate research, teaching, and service

The Academic Senate Council on Teaching, Learning and Student Experience awarded doctoral student Ta-Yang (Diane) Hsieh the 2020 UCI Most Promising Future Faculty Award.

Hsieh is one of three doctoral students at UCI to receive the award. Recipients are selected by members of the Academic Senate Council on Teaching, Learning, and Student Experience based on campus-wide nominations from peers, colleagues, and students.

“Diane is an extraordinary scholar on all dimensions and very deserving of this honor,” said Professor Sandra Simpkins, Hsieh’s advisor. “She has published three manuscripts and has two more going out for review. She excels in teaching and mentoring both in and outside of the classroom. Finally, she has a strong record serving her school, profession, and community.”

​A fourth-year doctoral student, Hsieh specializes in Human Development in Context. Her research focuses on identifying inequities in the STEM pipeline from high school through college, along with ways to support individuals’ continued pursuit and achievement in STEM.

Ta-Yang (Diane) Hsieh

At UCI, Hsieh has served as a teaching assistant for three years for the School of Education’s Ph.D. course in applied regression, a required quantitative methods course for first-year doctoral students.
 
“Diane is essential to the success of the class,” said Assistant Professor Rachel Baker, course instructor. “Diane leads a weekly lab session that practices concepts we have covered in class, she provides rich and helpful feedback on students’ weekly homework assignments and midterms, she leads review sessions and holds office hours, and she responds to students’ concerns and questions. Each year that she has TA’d for me, students in the class have commented – to me, in front of the class, and in their evaluations – on how approachable, clear, and caring Diane is.”

As an intern in the California Community College Internship Program for the 2019-2020 school year, Hsieh also worked with community college faculty and delivered several guest lecturers.

Hsieh is president of the Associate Doctoral Students in Education (ADSE), which coordinates communication among students, staff, and faculty. Since 2018, she has served as a lead mentor to middle school students through the Math CEO program, a community educational outreach program supporting underserved middle school youth in neighboring communities. She has also led numerous workshops focused on the importance of community building to promote effective mentoring practice.

Hsieh aspires to be a faculty member in developmental and educational psychology whose teaching and research inform each other.
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Hsieh will receive the award at the 2020 UCI Celebration of Teaching, along with the other recipients: Alexander Bower, Cognitive Sciences, School of Social Sciences, and Mary Anne Mendoza, Political Science, School of Social Sciences.