Rainbow receives U of A Distinguished Faculty Award
Jessica Rainbow, PhD, RN, a University of Arizona College of Nursing associate professor, received the Mentoring Future Scholars Award as part of the 2024 University of Arizona Distinguished Faculty Awards.
The award recognizes early career faculty “whose dedication to graduate students through mentorship has been transformative.”
“This is how you grow the nursing workforce in this state – through dedicated faculty members like Dr. Rainbow who give everything to help students make an impact in our state,” said Brian Ahn, PhD, dean of the College of Nursing. “She is well-deserving of this honor.”
Rainbow, who has been with the university since 2018, has mentored 27 students. She said reading nomination letters from former students was “so incredibly encouraging.”
“It made me feel reassured that I am in the right job and that my work matters,” said Rainbow.
Rainbow’s award letter said her former students’ support was evidence of her strong mentorship.
“In fact, three of your former PhD students offered heartfelt and sincere support of your nomination, and, in recent years, two of your doctoral students have received prestigious postdoctoral fellowships and four have landed tenure-track teaching jobs. What an accomplishment!” the award letter said.
One nomination from a former student said Rainbow went “above and beyond to make sure that I knew I was supported by her professionally and personally.”
The letter praised Rainbow for setting the bar for mentorship: “Driven by her values of integrity, compassion, exploration, adaptation, inclusion and determination, Dr. Rainbow deftly wields the tools of research and scholarship to empower future scholars.”
Rainbow said that, as a graduate student, her mentor was instrumental in helping her figure out what she wanted to do.
“I think that having honest conversations about what I wanted my whole life to look like and sharing her own story was key to me finding this position at the College of Nursing, where I can do the research I love, mentor and teach PhD students, and have a family,” Rainbow said.
As part of the award, Rainbow will receive a one-time $2,000 allocation from the university to advance her work. Rainbow said it will likely pay for her attendance at the Western Institute of Nursing Annual Research Meeting in Spokane, Wash., in April.