The Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering Excellence in Advising Award recognizes excellence in advising as demonstrated through significant contributions to academic advising. The award consists of a $500 honorarium.  Anyone may nominate an individual for this award; an individual may not nominate himself/herself.  

Criteria                                                                              

The Award is open to all faculty.  The nomination should be grounded on an extraordinary record of advising excellence.  This award will closely follow the National Academic Advising Association’s core values and the criteria for their national outstanding advising award (www.nacada.ksu.edu), as well as MSU’s Center for Faculty Excellence Academic Advising Award (http://www.montana.edu/teachlearn/).  

 Examples of advising activities for consideration include, but are not limited to, the following: 

  • Strong interpersonal skills that include a caring, helpful attitude toward advisees, faculty, and/or staff.
    • Reliable and consistent availability to advisees, faculty, and staff.
    • Frequency of contact with advisees.
    • Meeting advisees in informal settings.
    • Appropriate referral activity.
  • Commitment to engage in developmental advising as compared to prescriptive advising.
    • Participation in and support of intrusive advising to build strong relationships with advisees.
    • Seek to understand and modify barriers to student progress.
    • Help students establish realistic goals and objectives and encourage them to be responsible for their own progress and success.
    • Acknowledge that students have learning needs that vary based upon individual skills, goals, responsibilities, and experiences.
    • Skill in guiding and supporting the student’s journey and academic development.
  • Support for student progress towards graduation and career goals.
    • Monitoring of student progress toward academic and career goals.
    • Mastery of institutional regulations, policies, and procedures.
    • Evidence of student success rate, by advisor or department.
  • Demonstrated outreach and initiatives to support student success.
    • Develop relationships with personnel critical to student success including those in such diverse areas as admissions, orientation, instruction, financial aid, housing, health services, athletics, academic departments, and the registrar's office.
    • Participation in and support of advisor development programs.

Nomination Requirements

The nominations should consist of the following materials:     

  • Nomination letter that includes a brief summary (limited to two pages) describing the accomplishments of the nominee relative to the criteria above.
  • One letter of support from any appropriate source (limited to two pages).

If nominations exceed the page limit noted, the Chair will remove the nomination from consideration.

For nomination deadline, see the main Faculty & Staff Awards page

The recipient will be selected by a committee chosen by the College’s Faculty Development Council.