Sandra Waters, Tom Socha Selected to Receive National Awards for Advising

An Old Dominion administrator and faculty member have been selected to receive awards from the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) as part of the 2012 Annual Awards Program for Academic Advising.

Sandra Waters, assistant dean for Advising and Transfer Programs in Academic Enhancement/Advising and Transfer Programs, was named as an Outstanding Advising Award winner in the Academic Advising Administrator category.

This award is presented to individuals who have demonstrated qualities associated with outstanding academic advising of students or outstanding academic advising administration. The Academic Advising Administrator category includes those individuals who may provide direct academic advising services but whose primary responsibility is as an administrator or director of an academic advising program.

Tom Socha, University Professor of communication and graduate program director for the new M.A. in lifespan and digital communication in the College of Arts and Letters, was chosen to receive an Outstanding Advising Certificate of Merit in the Faculty Academic Advising category.

This award is presented to individuals who have demonstrated qualities associated with outstanding academic advising of students or outstanding academic advising administration. The Faculty Academic Advising category includes those individuals whose primary responsibility is teaching and who spend a portion of their time providing academic advising services to students.

Since 1983, NACADA has honored individuals and institutions making significant contributions to the improvement of academic advising. The goal of NACADA is to promote quality academic advising and professional development of its membership to enhance the educational development of students.

NACADA's membership has grown to more than 10,000 faculty, professional advisors, administrators, counselors and others in academic and student affairs concerned with the intellectual, personal and vocational needs of students. In addition, NACADA is the representative and advocate of academic advising and those providing that service to higher education.

Waters and Socha will be honored and presented with their awards in Nashville during the NACADA Annual Conference in the fall.

In March, Waters and Socha received awards for Excellence in Advising - Administrator and Outstanding Faculty Advisor, respectively, at the NACADA Region 2 Conference in Annapolis, Md., where they were nominated for national NACADA awards in their categories.