Mason Advisor Awards and Recognition

Jada Crocker, Elli Ambros, and Kristin Tyburczy stand with their certificates and plaque in front of the screens that say "Thank you, Advisors!". photo by Creative Services

2023 Award Recipients

V. Ann Lewis Academic Advisor
of the Year Award
Patriot Inspiration Award Unsung Hero Award
Elli Ambros holding the award for Academic Advisor of the Year Shabnam Rezai holding the award for Patriot Inspiration Claudia Borke holding the award for Unsung Hero
Elli Ambros
Academic Advisor
Criminology, Law and Society
College of Humanities and
Social Sciences
Shabnam Rezai
Senior Academic Advisor
School of Business
Claudia Borke
Academic Advisor
Bioengineering
College of Engineering and
Computing
Academic Advisor Awards Top 10. Seven are pictured holding their Certificates of Excellence
2023 Top Ten. Pictured L-R: Marty Abruzzo, Carson Tatton, Jada Crocker, Kristin Tyburczy, Deborah Polayes, Vernell Wilks, Julio Diaz. Not pictured: Mary Getsey Bernier, Ibrahim Kargbo, Kurt Lazaroff.

2023 Academic Advisor Awards Results Infographic

Article: Elli Ambros named Mason’s 2023 Undergraduate Academic Advisor of the Year

Mason Advisor Awards and Recognition 2022

The V. Ann Lewis Academic Advisor of the Year Award

Academic advisors are a vital part of student success. Students have an opportunity each year to nominate an undergraduate academic advisor who has had a positive impact on students. The purpose of this award is to recognize excellence in advising across the Mason community. In 2020, the Academic Advisor of the Year (AAOY) award was named after V. Ann Lewis in recognition of Ann’s impact on the academic advising community during her 23 years at Mason. This award was very dear to Ann, and she took several steps to ensure the award would live on after she retired from Mason.

Patriot Inspiration Award

This award recognizes a member of the Mason academic advising community who demonstrates an exceptional commitment to, understanding of, and application of effective diversity, equity, and inclusion practices in their academic advising of students. ​

Unsung Hero Award

This award recognizes a member of the Mason academic advising community who demonstrates strong advocacy for students within an academic unit or the university. This advisor is committed to a “student-first” perspective in academic advising practice by going above and beyond to advocate for students or students in a particular population. ​​

Rules and Regulations:

Purpose: The Academic Advisor Awards are to promote and acknowledge excellence in undergraduate academic advising at George Mason University.

Eligibility: To be eligible to win an Academic Advisor Award, you must be a full or part time faculty or staff member who has undergraduate academic advising responsibilities as part of your job description. Peer and graduate advisors are not eligible. Past recipients of the Academic Advisor of the Year Award are not eligible to win the award again for five years from the date it was last awarded.

Nominations and Awards Criteria: Each enrolled student can submit one nomination per voting cycle that will be considered for all three awards. Each faculty/staff can submit one nomination that will be considered only for the Patriot Inspiration Award and the Unsung Hero Award. Nominations are accepted annually during the beginning of the Spring semester. See this page for more details and the criteria used for selection.

Selection Process: A committee will be formed consisting of OAA and MAAN leadership as well as a previous award winner who is ineligible for this year’s award. Decisions will be based on the quality of the nominations. The committee will choose their top 3 candidates and eligibility will then be verified. If the top candidate is not eligible to win, the committee will move on to their second choice and so on. The winner will then be notified. The awards will be presented at the Mason Advising Symposium in May.

Additional Awards and Opportunities for Recognition

The Jade Barricelli Spirit of Academic Advising Excellence Award (Sponsored by MAAN)

NACADA Region 2 Awards and Scholarships

NACADA Global Awards

GMU HR Reward and Recognition