Student-affairs officer Richard Battrick drew a collective nomination from all the grad students in his department, who see him as a "beloved advocate, counselor, and mentor." Writes nominator Jennifer Imamura: "I've never seen anyone so adept at solving bureaucratic messes, and who does so so willingly."
Battrick has made himself an invaluable resource in his five years at ESPM, having "mastered the areas of interest of nearly all of the 80 faculty members, the courses offered to students each semester, and indeed the names and faces of each of the 200 graduate students," his nominators say. More than one student said that meeting Battrick was an inducement to attend Berkeley, because he made an immediate positive impression with his "warmth, extreme helpfulness, and genuineness" during the application process.
Students frequently line up to see the adviser, who keeps a bowl of candy on his desk for his visitors, welcoming them with "his reassuring smile and his entire persona, one ideally suited for calming even the most distressed graduate student panicked over a late registration fee or a missing letter in their dissertation."