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
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

SIS South door is open for Core hours 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. and 1 – 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday. All staff work remotely on Friday.

Location

Pacific Hall, First Floor

Mailing Address

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

Staff

Natalie Noles: Director, Student and Instructional Services; nnoles@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, and the instructional assistant program.

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

Melody Bazyar-Catalano: Manager, Graduate Student and Instructional Services; mbazyar@ucsd.edu

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

Valeria Spall: Ph.D. Program Coordinator; vspall@ucsd.edu

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

TBD: Ph.D. Program Coordinator

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

Philip Durkee: B.S./M.S. Coordinator; pjdurkee@ucsd.edu

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

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.

TBD: Financial Assistant

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

Instructional Assistant Program

Jasmin Jefferson: IA Program & Staffing Coordinator; jmjefferson@ucsd.edu

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

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.

Brian Hamlett: Advisor; bhamlett@ucsd.edu

Undergraduate advising. Special area of oversight: Minor Declaration Request administration.

Katie Liakos: Advisor; kliakos@ucsd.edu

Undergraduate advising. Special area of oversight: School Change of Major Request administration.

Rachel Mori: Advisor; rmori@ucsd.edu

Undergraduate advising. Special area of oversight: TBD

Bianca Poveda: Advisor; bapoveda@ucsd.edu

Undergraduate advising. Special area of oversight: TBD

Camille Sta Elena: Advisor; cstaelena@ucsd.edu

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

Haille Thomas: Advisor; hmthomas@ucsd.edu

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

Julie Vitale: Advisor; jbvitale@ucsd.edu

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

Instructional Services

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

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

TBD: Instructional Scheduling Coordinator

Responsible for undergraduate and graduate course scheduling and related processes.

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

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

Isabela Ibarra: Student Services Advisor; imibarra@ucsd.edu

Front desk/intake advising. Provide general administrative support to the Student Services unit. Specialized advising duties.