Corinne Valdivia, professor of agricultural and applied economics in the Division of Applied Social Sciences, received CAFNR’s 2024 Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award as part of the Celebration of Excellence awards ceremony April 16.

Valdivia’s service to graduate education is campuswide. She shapes the graduate experience in CAFNR through her service on the MU Graduate Faculty Senate, the CAFNR Brown Graduate Research Fellowship Committee, and the DASS Graduate Studies Committee, as well as through her role as advisor for the campus interdisciplinary International Development minor.  

“The direct impact she has on her graduate advisees through helping them to develop their research methodologies, connecting them to local communities in Latin America to collect data, and offering counsel on their professional development is evidenced by the high quality of their final outputs and successes on the academic job market,” said nominator Harvey S. James, professor and director, Division of Applied Social Services. 

James said Valdivia’s teaching and mentoring responsibilities are paramount to the College’s and University’s global presence in international development. Valdivia leverages her research activity to fund graduate researchers who come from all over the globe (including Angola, Ecuador, Kuwait, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam), and supports these early career academics through co-authoring conference presentations, policy white papers, and peer-reviewed journal articles.  

“I cannot think of a more deserving recipient for this award,” said Maria Figueroa-Armijos, associate professor of entrepreneurship at EDHEC Business School. “Dr. Valdivia was not only a mentor during my graduate studies at Mizzou; her mentorship continues today, 14 years after graduation.”