Award Recipients

New Advisor of the Year

Yesenia Martinez Vela
University Academic Advising, Pioneer Center for Student Excellence

“This advisor has been employed at TWU for just over a year and has made an invaluable impact to the Pre-Nursing and Pioneer Center for Student Excellence teams. They are not someone you will always hear in a room, but their presence is felt. She is able to receive, think about, and process information in ways that allow her to provide solutions to problems and raise additional questions that should be considered.”

Advisor of the Year

Cynthia Englehart
School of Library and Information Studies, College of Professional Education

“The quality and level of support this advisor provides to the faculty and staff is simply beyond compare: They work diligently with faculty to ensure they are aware and compliant of university policies and procedures that affect their advising. They provide fast and relevant feedback, recommendations, or direction with advising matters, and they have streamlined processes for our students and faculty to provide more comprehensive information and guidance with greater efficiency, all while maintaining an ebullient enthusiasm for their work.”

#AdvisingWithAHeart

Kirsten Donohoo
​​​​​​​Biology and Medical Technology, College of Arts and Sciences

“She goes above for each student and she genuinely wants to see the best for each student. You can tell that she loves learning about each person and connecting with them in order to help them reach their goals. She offered extra meetings this semester in order to help more students, she gives personalized recommendations on courses and gives feedback on courses from other students.”

New Advisor of the Year

Stephanie Turkel
Nutrition and Food Sciences, College of Health Sciences

“Mrs. Turkel is an absolutely amazing advisor. She is always very attentive, caring, supporting, and understanding. She has patiently guided me throughout my TWU degree plan, keeping my goals and needs in mind.”

Advisor of the Year

Kirsten Donohoo
Biology and Medical Technology, College of Arts and Sciences

“She is a great advisor! Always sending emails every semester with important date reminders and encouraging us to come see her/schedule an appointment if we need help. I also use VA benefits and whenever I needed her signature on anything she was super quick and did it via email for me. She also continuously sends out reminders for events and club meetings, presenting us with a number of opportunities. I’m thankful I got to experience such an amazing advisor!”

#AdvisingWithAHeart

Molly Koerner
​​​​​​​All Majors, College of Business

“Advisor Koerner always goes above and beyond for her students. She is very punctual and makes you feel just as important as others.”

Faculty Advisor of the Year

Dr. Ashley Bender*
Department of English, Speech & Foreign Languages, College of Arts & Sciences

*previous winner

“Dr. Bender is ALWAYS willing to help. She is readily available and will go the extra mile to make sure all needs are met. She is very thorough in her explanation of policies/degree planning. She is quick to respond and will contact other departments, if needed, to assist in finding the answer. Dr. Bender is enthusiastic, helpful, knowledgeable, and wants the best for her students. I would not be where I am today without her expertise. She is simply amazing! I feel valued when interacting with Dr. Bender and I am extremely proud to call her my advisor.”

New Advisor of the Year

Dennise Mendez
Health Promotion & Kinesiology, College of Health Sciences

“…Dennise’s contributions to our school in the time she has been here have been outstanding. She is well liked by our students, and has identified changes to our curriculum that will improve the advising experience for both advisors and advisees in the next academic year and beyond.”

Advisor of the Year

Kim Taylor
Coordinator of College Academic Advising, Pioneer Center for Student Excellence

“Her meticulous organizational skills, support of her team, always smiling countenance and willingness to work to get the job done make her one of the best assets we have in the College of Health Science.”

#AdvisingWithAHeart

Leah Edwards
Office of the Dean, College of Arts & Sciences

“Leah Edwards is a phenomenal advisor. She has helped me to determine which direction I want to go with my academic plan, while taking my needs into account in completing my degree...She is kind, and does not react with judgment. She shows passion for what she does. I do not know what I would have done without her guidance. Through her guidance I have been able to pull my GPA up from the brink and am now considering graduate programs. I wish I could keep her as an advisor post-grad.”

Innovation in Advising

Office of Educator Preparation Services
left to right: Janie Bergman, Dr. Brandon Bush, Katy Eshelman (not pictured: Linda Kobler)

The Office of Educator Preparation Services (OEPS), in collaboration with the Department of Teacher Education (DTE) at Texas Woman’s University (TWU), developed a standardized interview protocol, administration procedures, and scoring rubric for evaluating students seeking admission to the TWU Educator Preparation Program (EPP).

New Advisor of the Year

Artia Bowden
Office of Educator Preparation Services, College of Professional Education

Student’s Choice

Vicki Jennings
General Studies, College of Arts & Sciences

Faculty Advisor of the Year

Dr. Vi Ho
College of Nursing, Houston

New Advisor of the Year

Amanda Espinoza
Department of Health Studies (now Health Promotion & Kinesiology)

Advisor of the Year

Janelle Davis
Department of Kinesiology (now Health Promotion & Kinesiology)

New Advisor of the Year

Wylijanna Cole
College of Nursing

Advisor of the Year

Chris Cooper
College of Business

Faculty Advisor of the Year

Dr. Ashley Bender
Department of English, Speech & Foreign Languages, College of Arts & Sciences