Student and Instructional Services

The Student and Instructional Services Office provides advising services to students as well as instruction-based support services to faculty.

Undergraduate Contact

Phone: (858) 534-0557
Non-UCSD students: biousis@ucsd.edu
Current UCSD students: Virtual Advising Center
Student Engagement : dobio@ucsd.edu
Instructional Assistants: biota@ucsd.edu

Graduate Contact

PhD Program: biogradprog@ucsd.edu
PhD Admissions: biophdadmissions@ucsd.edu
Prospective & Current MS students: Virtual Advising Center
Instructional Assistants: biota@ucsd.edu

Hours

The office remains locked. Staff are available remotely or in some cases in person by appointment only.

Location

Pacific Hall, First Floor

Mailing Address

University of California, San Diego
Division of Biological Sciences
9500 Gilman Drive #0348
La Jolla, CA 92093-0348

Staff

Dana Brehm: Director, Student and Instructional Services; dbrehm@ucsd.edu

Oversight of the Student and Instructional Services (SIS) unit of the Biological Sciences Administrative Core: including both undergraduate and graduate advising services, instructional services, admission and recruitment, the instructional assistant program and student engagement.

Graduate Program (Ph.D. & M.S.)

Natalie Noles: Manager, Graduate Student & Instructional Services; nnoles@ucsd.edu

Daily operation, administration and management of graduate student and instructional services.

Melody Bazyar: Ph.D. Program Coordinator; mbazyar@ucsd.edu

Ph.D. student advising, Ph.D. thesis committees/defense, evaluations, first year rotations, graduate curriculum, student progress tracking.

Jeannette Fox: B.S./M.S. Coordinator; j4fox@ucsd.edu

B.S./M.S. program advising, M.S. admissions, evaluation and progress tracking, M.S. student event organization.

Trevor Guidinger: Ph.D. Recruitment and Admissions Coordinator; tguidinger@ucsd.edu

Ph.D. recruitment and admissions, application inquiries and tracking, admissions analysis, participant in external outreach and recruitment events.

Graduate Financial Support

Lien Ngo: Financial Analyst; lnngo@ucsd.edu

Graduate student support planning and analysis, student and faculty financial advising, training grant coordination.

Irish Fontan-Basinga: Financial Assistant; ifontanbasinga@ucsd.edu

Graduate student support processing, student financial advising, graduate student travel, verification letters/forms.

Instructional Assistant Program

Megan Varela: IA Program & Staffing Coordinator; mvarela@ucsd.edu

Administrative coordination of the Instructional Assistant program: GIA, TA, Tutor, UGIA, Reader.

Undergraduate Advising Services

Laura Majoch: Manager, Undergraduate Advising; lmajoch@ucsd.edu

Daily operation, administration, and management of the advising unit.

Vanesa de Boer: Advisor; vdeboer@ucsd.edu

Undergraduate advising. Special area of oversight: Phage Genomics Program.

Katie Liakos: Advisor; kliakos@ucsd.edu

Undergraduate advising. Special area of oversight: Major/Minor Tool Administration.

Camille Sta Elena: Advisor; cstaelena@ucsd.edu

Undergraduate advising. Special area of oversight: Honors Thesis Program (BISP 196).

Evan Tucker: Advisor; edtucker@ucsd.edu

Undergraduate advising. Special area of oversight: Transfer Information Sessions.

Julie Vitale: Advisor; jbvitale@ucsd.edu

Undergraduate advising. Special area of oversight: Capped Major Application administration.

Instructional Services and Student Enrichment

Matthew Haack: Manager, Instructional Services; mhaack@ucsd.edu

Daily operation, administration, and management of the instructional unit.

Cara Esgro: Instructional Scheduling Coordinator; cesgro@ucsd.edu

Responsible for undergraduate and graduate course scheduling and related processes.

Lindsay Ward: Student Accommodations Coordinator; l1ward@ucsd.edu

Responsible for coordination of accommodation for students with disabilities as documented with OSD.

TBD: Student Services Advisor

Front desk/intake advising. Provide general administrative support to the Student Services unit. Specialized advising duties and participation in student engagement administration.

Student Engagement Opportunities in Biological Sciences

TBD: Student Engagement Coordinator; dobio@ucsd.edu

Support student career exploration and participation in activities such as research, internships, alumni networking, study abroad, and advising for Biological Sciences student organizations.