Recha Reid Wins 2020 Spirit of Georgia Tech Staff Award
Recha, Program and Operations Manager for Student Innovation, Office of Undergraduate Education won the award for her empathy for others, enthusiasm, and diligent work ethic which makes coming to work a joy. She also was recognized for developing a student innovation track for 1st year students in the Summer Initiative program which provided a student innovation experience and helped break the stigma for students who are accepted to Georgia Tech on a conditional basis.
SLS-Affiliated Capstone Project Wins ISyE Design Project
The SLS-affiliated capstone ISyE Senior Design project team co-won best project among 30 ISyE senior design projects spring semester. The project was set up and advised by SLS's own, David Eady.
Stephanie Aluko's Presentation Proposal Selected for 2020 NACADA Annual Conference
Stephanie Aluko’s proposal, “Reframing: Learning How to Promote Your Major,” has been accepted for the 2020 NACADA Annual Conference, which will be in Puerto Rico this October.
The presentation will empower advisors to reframe the conversation about their majors. By focusing on resources that reinforce the concept of skill transferability, advisors will be able to broaden a student's understanding of the career pathways that stem from a major. As a result, advisors will develop ways to retain students who are uncertain of the marketability of their major, create techniques to help introduce their major to students who are unaware of its applications and clarify the misconceptions surrounding their major.
Annual Outstanding Undergraduate Academic Advising Award Winners Selected
- Staff winner: Laura Tolliver (Academic Advisor II, Mechanical Engineering)
- Faculty winner: Dr. Mary Holder (Academic Professional, College of Sciences)
Pre-Graduate & Pre-Professional Updates
by Dr. Shannon Dobranski | May 2020Pre-Graduate and Pre-Professional Advising has navigated the transition to distance learning effectively, building on our existing practice of virtual appointments and drop-ins. Since the start of distance learning March 16, PGPP has seen 207 students in 396 advising sessions. Additionally, Pre-Graduate Advisor Susan Belmonte has completed 53 document reviews outside of scheduled appointments.
We have discovered that students have been eager to connect in webinars and virtual information sessions. Below is a sampling of online events that drew a larger-than-usual crowd:
- Fulbright Information Session (3/24) = 26 attendees
- UK Scholarship Information Session (3/25) = 17
- Pre-Health Personal Statement Workshop (4/10) = 29
- Emory School of Medicine Information Session (4/17) = 85
- Knight-Hennessy Information Session (5/4) = 41
- UK Scholarship Information Session (5/5) = 27
- Fulbright Information Session (with guest speaker from Fulbright) (5/6) = 48
- Yale School of Medicine Information Session = 106
We are also using the time to discover ways to enhance services for Georgia Tech undergraduates and the campus community as a whole. Pre-Graduate Advisor Susan Belmonte has convened an exploratory committee to investigate the feasibility of a Graduate Expo in fall 2021. Modeled on Purdue's Big 10+ Graduate Expo, this event would draw recruiters from across the nation and prospective students from throughout the Southeast to connect around a programming and a fair devoted to graduate programs and the graduate experience. If you have ideas about this possibility, please contact Susan.
Shout out to Prestigious Fellowships Advisor Dr. Karen Mura:
Dr. Karen Mura's first three months as Prestigious Fellowships Advisor have been eventful. She hit the ground running when she arrived late January, participating in mock interviews and personal statement review sessions in her first week on the job. She supported the institutional endorsement for Georgia Tech's five Goldwater and three Truman Scholarship nominees, and then took over to manage a record number of Astronaut Scholarship applicants from the early drafting stage to faculty review to final submission. In addition to convening almost a dozen information sessions and webinars, Karen has launched a Prestigious Fellowships newsletter to showcase opportunities for students at each stage of their undergraduate career and beyond. When Pre-Graduate and Pre-Professional Advising was forced to cancel the annual Provost's Prestigious Fellowships Reception to honor all of the year's applicants, Karen curated a video recognition instead. Kudos to Karen for achieving so much so quickly--especially in these unusual times.