Advisor of the Year Award

General Description:

This award is based on the national criteria of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA).  The award is designed to honor individuals and institutions who are making significant contributions to the improvement of academic advising and to disseminate information about these contributions to other professionals in the field.  Only one nominee will be selected.  The nominee selected from the campus will become LSU’s University College Advisor of the Year and his/her name will be submitted as LSU’s representative for national competition as National Advisor of the Year.

Eligibility: 

Any individual employed as an academic advisor at LSU may be nominated.  The nominee need not be a NACADA member.  Previous winners of national awards and certificates of merit are not eligible.

Recognition: 

The recipient will be presented with a cash award of $1,000 and an engraved plaque.

Criteria: 

The Selection Committee will evaluate nominations on the evidence of effective advising qualities and practices that distinguish the nominee as an outstanding academic adviser.  Such evidence may include, but is not necessarily limited to, the following:

  • Strong interpersonal skills
  • Availability to advisees, faculty, or staff
  • Frequency of contact with advisees
  • Appropriate referral activity
  • Use and dissemination of appropriate information sources
  • Evidence of student success rate, by advisor or department
  • Caring, helpful attitude toward advisees, faculty, and staff
  • Meeting advisees in informal settings
  • Participation in and support of intrusive advising to build strong relationships with advisees
  • Monitoring of student progress toward academic and career goals
  • Mastery of institutional regulations, policies, and procedures
  • Ability to engage in, promote, and support developmental advising
  • Evidence of working in an academic advising program that supports NACADA’s Core Values.
  • Evidence of working in an advising program that reflects the standards of good practice in the CAS Standards and Guidelines for Academic Advising.
  • Participation in and support of advising development programs
  • Perception by colleagues of nominee’s advising skills
  • Institutional recognition of nominee for outstanding advising

Nomination and Selection Procedure:  

Nominations for the award may be initiated by any professional staff or faculty member within the University.

Submission Procedures: 

Nominations must contain adequate factual or narrative material that describes the extent to which an individual meets the awards criteria.  Include the following and use objective data to support the nomination:

Summary of the nominee’s qualifications:  In this key piece, the nominator should summarize the extent to which the nominee meets the award criteria, citing letters of support, data, and other materials illustrative of exemplary performance as an academic advisor.

Advisor of the Year Documentation Requirements

  • Letter of support from the direct supervisor (director, assistant dean, or associate dean)
  • Resume of the nominee (no more than 4 pages)
  • Job description which includes percentages of time spent in each area of responsibility
  • Personal statement from nominee that includes advising philosophy (no more than 2 pages)
  • Representative materials developed by nominee.  These materials should show how the nominee has gone above and beyond regular advising job duties to meet level of outstanding work
  • A minimum of three letters of support
    • At least one letter should be from a current or former student
    • At least one letter should be from a current or former colleague
    • At least one letter should be from an administrator
    • Total submitted packet cannot exceed 40 pages

 

Nominations must be submitted electronically no later than Friday, February 16, 2024 to ucscholarships@lsu.edu.

 

 

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