Nominations for the Academic Adviser Award will close on Monday. The award will be given to a faculty or professional adviser who shows evidence of mentoring, guidance, counseling and support towards students.

A three-person committee, formed by the campus advising network, will reward one of the nominees with a monetary award to further their work in professional development. The funds for the award will go to some form of professional development that is related to advising. The winner can go to a conference or a webinar of their choosing.

Last year an award was presented to a faculty adviser and a professional adviser. This year because of budgets cuts, only one award will be offered.

Nancy Crone, an academic adviser, said the committee hopes to continue the award despite it taking a cut in its second year.

“The award was started to bring attention to the fact that there are people who work with students to help them be successful,” Crone said. “A lot of people think we are only here to help students register for classes, but we deal with a lot of other issues. It was to bring focus to the role that we serve on campus.”

Last year 20 people were nominated, and the goal is to get more nominees this year.

In its first year, Diane Burns won the professional adviser award and Audrey Bachelder won the faculty adviser award.

Anyone can nominate an adviser who has been advising for more than three years, but the nomination form states that it would be preferable to have a letter from a student.

“The two that won last year had more than one letter from students in support of their work,” Crone said. “We want to make sure that students feel we are doing a good job.”

The award will be presented at the spring adviser coffee in February. The conference is for professional development, and representatives from across the university give information.

The award is funded by the Vice President of Academic Affairs office.

Bob Shaughnessy can be reached at 581-2812 or rrshaughnessy@eiu.edu.