Award Recipients

New Advisor of the Year

Dr. Cassandra Tiernan
College of Health Sciences

“Casey has shown dedication to her advising role by seeking to understand TWU processes and utilizing her resources to advise her students. Casey has been a rockstar in her first year of advising, not only is she fantastic with her students but her enthusiasm and initiative for advising in incredible, I am so grateful to be working alongside her.”

 

Advisor of the Year
 
Lacy Abalasei
College of Arts and Sciences

““Lacy is an outstanding academic advisor. She agreed to join the Biology advising team last year, and we are so lucky to have her. She keeps careful and detailed advising notes and has deep knowledge of her advisees. She is kind and supportive with our students; she works with them not only on their immediate scheduling needs but also on their long-term goals. She has already invested time and energy in suggesting curriculum improvements for our Biology programs that would better support our students, and she is very responsive to communication from our Biology leadership team.”

 

Faculty Advisor of the Year
 
Dr. Yunxiang Li
College of Arts and Sciences

““Lacy is an outstanding academic advisor. She agreed to join the Biology advising team last year, and we are so lucky to have her. She keeps careful and detailed advising notes and has deep knowledge of her advisees. She is kind and supportive with our students; she works with them not only on their immediate scheduling needs but also on their long-term goals. She has already invested time and energy in suggesting curriculum improvements for our Biology programs that would better support our students, and she is very responsive to communication from our Biology leadership team.”

 

#AdvisingWithAHeart
 
Molly Ramon
College of Health Sciences

“Molly has been first connection to TWU I made and has guided me through my university experience. Molly has not only assisted with degree planning and helped answer any concerns our struggles I had in my distance learning experience. Molly is indispensable and is absolutely wonderful. I hope others have an advisor just as great in their corner as I do. Thank you.”

 

Innovation in Advising Award
 
College of Business, Owl’s Nest Peer Mentoring Program
Co-Coordinators Ryann Munthe, Academic Advisor II; Taylor Hass, Recruitment Ambassador; and Molly Koerner, Academic Advisor II

“The Owl’s Nest is a retention program designed to support FTIC (First Time in College) students in the MAK College of Business & Entrepreneurship. The program pairs FTIC students with junior and senior mentors, who provide guidance and support throughout their transition into college life.”

 

New Advisor of the Year

Molly Ramón
College of Health Sciences

“I could not have made it into the Dental Hygiene program without her. When I would meet with her during our advising sessions, she was attentive, considerate, realistic, and had amazing interpersonal communication skills. Without her detail-oriented personality and problem-solving skills, I would have had to apply to the program a year later which was not what I was planning at the time. She mapped out a plan that would be the best course of action for me to have applied in time and it all worked out well. If it weren’t for her quick and thorough thinking I would have been lost.”

Advisor of the Year
 
Dennise Mendez
School of Health Promotion & Kinesiology, College of Health Sciences

“Ms. Mendez is respectful of and values the many ways our student population is diverse. She works diligently with each student in an effort to ensure academic success. She provides detailed notes in student self-service and individual emails to students reminding them of deadlines, policies, degree plan requirements, and information discussed in advising meetings.”

#AdvisingWithAHeart
 
Molly Koerner
College of Business

“Molly is always willing to meet with me and help me when I need clarity regarding my academic journey. She has made me feel comfortable, and that she genuinely cares about my success. She is very warm, helpful, and understanding and has provided me with opportunities that have allowed me to further enrich my experiences at TWU”

 

Outstanding Advising Program
 
College of Business, Owl’s Nest Peer Mentoring Program
Co-Coordinators Molly Koerner, Academic Advisor II, and Ryann Munthe, Academic Advisor II; Nominator - Chris Cooper, Assistant Director

“This award recognizes one college-specific or cross-departmental program where TWU students are the primary audience and the goal is to promote student retention, success, or completion. The goal of the Owl’s Nest Peer Mentoring Program is to increase the retention of undergraduate students in the Kick College of Business.”

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.”

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.”

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