|
NEWS SERVICES |
T 919-962-2091 F 919-962-2279 www.unc.edu/news/ news@unc.edu |
News Release
| For immediate use |
June 9, 2006 -- No. 306 |
Photos: To download a photo, see end of story.
Three UNC academic advisers
win national advising awards
CHAPEL HILL - Three academic advising professionals at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill have won top awards from the National Academic Advising
Association.
The 2006 Outstanding Advising Award winners from UNC's College of Arts and Sciences
are:
Four awards were given in each category.
Cannon assumed the newly created position of associate dean and director of
academic advising programs in July 1999.
"In the year that followed, she began a process that has transformed the
face of advising at UNC-Chapel Hill," Bobbi Owen, senior associate dean
for undergraduate education, wrote in a nomination letter. "She was put
in charge of 13,000 undergraduate students and charged with transforming an
advising program consisting of part-time faculty members into one that was staffed
by full-time professional advisers. The transformation has been truly remarkable."
Today, Cannon oversees 19 full-time advisers, 28 part-time faculty advisers
and 11 support staff members. Another five full-time advisers will join the
program next month.
Cannon began her Carolina career as an academic adviser in the college in 1985.
Later, she became director of career planning and placement at the UNC School
of Law. She also has been assistant and associate dean of academic services
and associate dean of the General College, where most UNC students spend their
first two years, fulfilling basic requirements.
Dawson joined the academic advising programs office in 2001 and was promoted
in less than a year to senior academic adviser. She became assistant director
in 2005. She has won UNC's Mickel-Shaw Excellence in Advising Award twice -
the maximum allowed under the advising program's selection procedure.
"Undergraduates are asked to nominate their favorite adviser for this
honor and Dr. Dawson's name has risen to the top of the list every time for
the best full-time adviser," wrote Dr. Nalin Parikh, assistant dean of
advising programs, in a nomination letter.
Dawson, who received undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees at UNC, previously was an adviser in the General College, associate director for academic advising in the study abroad office and a geography instructor.
Austell has received three university advising awards: the Mickel-Shaw Excellence in Advising Award in 1997, the College of Arts and Sciences Excellence in Advising Award in 1999 and the Class of 1996 Excellence in Advising Award in 2002.
"His work in academic advising is among the very best that I have observed in my more than 40 years in this area of service to undergraduate students," Dr. Donald Jicha, professor of chemistry and former associate dean of the General College, wrote in a nomination letter.
Austell also has won top teaching awards at UNC, including a Graduate Teaching Award in 1990, a Students' Undergraduate Teaching Award in 2002 and a James M. Johnston Teaching Excellence Award in 2004.
A research assistant professor in UNC's department of chemistry since 1998, Austell received bachelor's and doctoral degrees from UNC. He became an academic adviser for the sciences in 1998 and academic adviser and program director for junior and senior chemistry majors in 2001. He also is a faculty adviser in UNC's Johnston Scholars Program and directs the General Chemistry Tutorial Program. He teaches general, organic and analytical chemistry.
The National Academic Advising Association is a nonprofit organization of more than 9,000 professionals in academic and student affairs concerned with the intellectual, personal and vocational needs of students. The 2006 award winners will be honored at a conference this October in Indianapolis.
- 30 -
Photo URL: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/award/advise_group.jpg
For a complete list of national advising winners, visit http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Awards/OA_Winners.htm.
College of Arts and Sciences contact: Dee Reid, (919) 843-6339, deereid@unc.edu
News Services contact: Lisa Katz, (919) 962-2093, lisa_katz@unc.edu
