At Texas A&M University, academic advisors are an essential part of the success and development of students. The Texas A&M College of Engineering is fortunate to have many exceptional advisors as seen by the large number of recipients of the recent CONNECTED Awards, President’s Award for Academic Advising, and University Advisors and Counselors (UAC) Awards.
The inaugural CONNECTED Awards, sponsored by the Office for Student Success, recognizes an individual and an advising team for notable advancement utilizing EAB Navigate in supporting student success. EAB Navigate is a comprehensive technology that brings together administrators, faculty, advisors and staff to support students from enrollment to graduation and beyond.
For the college, Engineering and Academic Student Affairs advising received the CONNECTED Team Award. Team members include Edwin Aguilar, Randal Allison, Anna Budvitis, Robert Carlisle, Adrian Garza, BB Gaytan, Alison Hecker, Analicia Leiva, Laura Olivarez, Tammy Thomas, Nick Toliver and Shelby Wallace.
The President’s Award for Academic Advising is given to individuals who embody exceptional academic advising. These individuals possess strong conceptual knowledge of fundamental and novel advising theories, as well as relational skills that provide effective academic advising. The recipients from the College of Engineering are Eileen Hoy, academic advisor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Laura Olivarez, assistant director of Freshman Engineering Academic Advising Services.
The annual UAC Awards recognize individuals who embody the spirit of caring, compassionate, skillful advisement and genuine concern for the welfare of individual students. Katie Bryan, academic advisor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was the recipient of the UAC Excellence in Graduate Advising Award for the college.
“I cannot express how proud I am of our outstanding advisors and how pleased I am with this wonderful news,” said Dr. Mark Weichold, senior associate dean, Regents Professor and executive director of the Halliburton Engineering Global Program. “Each of these advisors plays a critical role in fostering student success from our first-year students through our graduate students. The awards that these individuals are receiving are among the most prestigious awards that the university bestows for advising. These awards are well-deserved recognition of the outstanding work that our advisors carry out to the benefit of our students.”