Kansas State University

Presidential Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising

Submitted by Gail Zeak

The president’s office and the Curtin Companies are offering the Excellence in Undergraduate Advising award. An honorarium of $2,500 is provided with this award. The award will be presented at a reception sponsored by the president’s office for all of the recipients of the Presidential Awards for Excellence. 

Each dean may nominate up to two individuals from his or her college. Because Veterinary Medicine students are not considered undergraduates, advisers from the College of Veterinary Medicine are not eligible for this award. Students, staff and faculty may submit the names of potential nominees to the appropriate department head or dean. Department heads may forward nomination materials to the dean. 

Each nomination packet should include:  

1. A letter of nomination;
2. Letters of recommendation from two undergraduate students whom the nominee has advised, additional letters will not be considered. It is suggested that nominees also include copies of their advising evaluations from students. These can be obtained by the nominee by contacting Mike Lynch’s office at 785-532-7305;
3. A letter of recommendation from the department head or appropriated supervisor that details why the nominee is deserving of this award and describes the scope of the nominee’s advising responsibilities;
4. A letter of recommendation from at least one other faculty member; 
5. A brief description by the nominee of his or her advising philosophy (one-page limit).

Nomination packets must be received by the office of the provost by 4:30 p.m. Friday, March 1, 2013. An advisory committee will review the nominations and may choose to conduct short interviews with some of the nominees before making its recommendation to the provost. Attached is information about the criteria to be used in the review of the nominations and the nomination process. Please submit all nomination materials electronically in PDF format to Gail Zeak at gaill@k-state.edu.  

This universitywide award for advising enables us to showcase those who are dedicated to providing quality advising to our undergraduates. Please nominate individuals from your college who are actively involved in this endeavor. To ensure student and staff involvement, please inform student and staff councils in your college that they may nominate qualified individuals for this award.

Criteria for the Selection of Presidential Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising

The advisory committee will evaluate nominations on the evidence of effective advising qualities that distinguish the nominee as an outstanding adviser. Such evidence may include, but is not limited to:

• Availability to advisees
• Appropriate referral activity
• Use of appropriate information sources
• Monitoring of student progress toward academic and career goals
• Mastery of institutional regulations, policies, and procedures
• Ability to engage in developmental advising (career and life planning) versus simply course scheduling

Nomination Procedure

The nomination procedure will include:

• Provision of information about the award to various groups.
• The request for nominations will be sent to deans and departments heads, with each dean allowed to nominate up to two individuals from his or her college. 
• An advertisement will be placed in the Collegian informing students that they may submit nominations for this award, and they should contact the Office of the Dean of their college to obtain the nomination information.
• To ensure student and staff involvement, please inform student and staff councils in your college that they may nominate qualified individuals for this award.
• The advisory committee will review all of the nominations, and may choose to conduct short interviews (less than 30 minutes) with some of the nominees, before making their recommendation.  

The letters of recommendation should specifically identify effective strategies or approaches that the nominee has incorporated into his or her advising duties.