Jill Sharkey, Professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology at UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School, has received a 2021-22 Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award. Mentoring graduate students is a vital component of UCSB’s mission as a research university; it includes training graduate students for careers in research and training, and preparing them to meet the highest professional and ethical standards as scholars and educators. Up to three recipients are selected campus-wide, each of whom receives an honorarium of $1,000 and a framed certificate. UC Santa Barbara’s Academic Senate honored Sharkey’s achievements as an exemplary mentor at the Faculty Legislature meeting on April 26, 2022.
Sharkey has served on 92 MA committees and 26 doctoral committees. Her colleagues praise her “modeling of cooperation, generosity, and attention to the needs of all students" going so far as to add that she truly adopts her students’ goals as her own. One student notes that Dr. Sharkey is a "graduate-centered mentor that focuses on providing experiences that not only make her graduate students more competitive and valued in the career path we choose, but she also challenges us to be better as clinicians, researchers, educators, community leaders, and
citizens."
Jill D. Sharkey (Ph.D., Education, ’03) is a Professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology, Associate Dean for Research and Outreach for the Gevirtz School of Education, School Psychology Program Credential Coordinator, and a Nationally Certified School Psychologist. As Associate Dean, Sharkey is engaged in strategic planning and related initiatives to achieve the mission and values of the Gevirtz School of Education. As a professor, she is heavily engaged in community-based research designed to understand optimal ways to support youth with learning and behavioral challenges who have not been served well in schools and are in juvenile justice, behavioral health, and child welfare systems. Her research has been funded by agencies including the California Board of State and Community Corrections, The California Department of Education, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency (SAMHSA) and is designed to transform systems to better serve vulnerable youth. In particular, Sharkey has focused on system inequities and racial and ethnic disparities in referrals, treatments, and outcomes for youth with diverse strengths and needs in Santa Barbara County. She is Executive Committee Member and Strategy Team Member of the South Coast Youth Safety Partnership (2011 to present); Elected Member of the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council of Santa Barbara County (2008 to present); and on the evaluation subcommittee of the Santa Barbara County Human Trafficking Task Force (2016 to present).