Mark Bauer started just in time.

Yesterday, his first day on the job as a new fellowship advisor, Bauer sat at his desk with his Palm Pilot in hand and pondered his schedule. First commitment: Tuesday night fellowship informational dinner at Trumbull College, the first of many meetings to spread the word to students on graduate scholarships.

Bauer joins the growing staff of the International Education and Fellowship Programs office and will counsel students interested in fellowships, focusing on United Kingdom programs. Bauer will allow the office to increase the number of counseling appointments available to students, and he will lead residential college outreach programs and help students with fellowship application writing.

“I’m just delighted to have him with us,” IEFP director Catherine Hutchison said. “It’s the same thing that [Undergraduate] Career Services has been working on — not having kids wait too long.”

Bauer fills the part-time job that George Levesque left when he became Berkeley College’s dean in January. Bauer will work 28 hours a week — more hours than Levesque — bringing IEFP’s number of appointments higher than it’s ever been before.

Bauer said he hopes to encourage students to apply to a greater diversity of fellowships, not just common ones such as the Rhodes and the Marshall.

“The thing I’m most excited about is getting the word out about fellowship opportunities,” Bauer said. “Not just the big name ones — there are so many.”

While Bauer is primarily responsible for United Kingdom fellowships, he will work with students applying for all fellowships.

Bauer has taught English 114 since 1996 and is a writing tutor in Branford College. Because of his new appointment, he will not teach on a regular basis but will continue to be a writing tutor. Bauer said he plans to encourage more fellowship applicants to work with writing tutors.

As a freshman at Stanford University, Bauer spent a year abroad in Vienna. He said he thinks fellowships are an excellent way for students to travel abroad. And, Bauer said he’s attached to the United Kingdom because of his academic speciality in British literature.

The IEFP office has been expanding over the past few years since becoming a separate office from UCS. IEFP and UCS moved into a new, larger space at 55 Whitney Ave. in January and both are continuing to expand their staffs and resources.