Edmund Shearer Advisor of the Year Criteria
The Edmund Shearer Advisor of the Year Award will be presented to employees who have demonstrated qualities associated with outstanding academic advising of on- and off-campus students. This award was created to recognize and reward outstanding advisors across campus. The recipient will be selected from one of the five college nominees (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Business and Entrepreneurship; Education; Health and Behavioral Sciences; and Science, Technology, and Mathematics) and receive $500. The other nominees from the academic colleges will be recognized and receive a stipend of $150.
Eligibility: Any individual serving as a faculty academic advisor or professional academic advisor employed by Fort Hays State University may be nominated. Nominees must have at least one calendar year of experience in academic advising and employed at FHSU for one calendar year.
The award recipient may be nominated for the appropriate Region 7 Advisor Award and/or the NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising Outstanding Advisor Award. Recipients of the Region 7 Advising Award will receive funding for travel to the NACADA Annual Conference with costs shared between the Provost’s Office and the Academic School/Department/College that houses the advisor.
Award: Recipients will be honored at the Spring Convocation in May. The finalists and award recipient will receive a monetary stipend. A maximum of four finalists would receive $150 each and the award recipient would receive a total of $500.
Recipients are eligible to receive this award every five years.
Submission materials:
- Required - A completed Nomination Form
- Required - A letter of nomination
- Optional items, not required, but can include:
- A summary of the nominee's qualifications. In this key piece, the nominator should summarize the extent to which the nominee meets award criteria, citing letters of support, data, or other materials illustrative of outstanding performance as an advisor.
- A personal statement on advising by the nominee.
- Copies of nominee's academic advising evaluations;
- Representative materials developed by nominee;
- Letters of support from advisees, colleagues, and administrators; and
- Other pertinent information from nominator, not limited to:
- Strong interpersonal skills
- Availability to advisees
- Frequency of contact with advisees
- Appropriate referral activity
- Use of appropriate information sources
- Evidence of student success rate
- Advisee evaluations (summary data)
- Caring attitude toward advisees
- Meeting advisees in informal settings
- Intrusive behavior which builds strong relationships with advisees
- 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
- Attendance at and support of advisor training programs
- Perception by colleagues of nominee's advising skills
The completed nomination form and letter of nomination are submitted to the school/department/program chair in late February each year. See the Academic Affairs Administrative Calender for current due date.