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Star Family Prizes recognize College advisers

woman speaking to an audience

Dean Amanda Claybaugh addresses attendees./Photo by Martha Stewart

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Harvard College’s Advising Programs Office awarded 12 advisers from throughout the University with the prestigious Star Family Prize for Excellence in Advising on Wednesday, May 8, 2019. The Star Prizes were established by James A. Star ’83 to recognize and reward individuals who contribute to the College through their exemplary intellectual and personal guidance of undergraduate students.

Prizes are awarded each year to 12 advisers, three each in the categories of: first-year, sophomore, concentration, and faculty advisers.

Nominations for the award were sought from the undergraduate student body earlier this year, and selection committees comprised of College staff, previous Star Prize recipients, and peer advising fellows chose from competitive pools of nominees to select this year’s recipients.

First-year Advising

  • Tycie Coppett: first year proctor and assistant director of the Ed.L.D. program at Harvard Graduate School of Education
  • William Lensch: chief of staff to the dean of the faculty at the Harvard Medical School
  • Steven M. Niemi: director of the Office of Animal Resources, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

Sophomore Advising

  • Jonathan E. Palmer: resident tutor, Dunster House and doctoral student at Harvard Business School
  • Steven Torrisi: resident tutor, Cabot House and Ph.D. candidate in physics
  • Arielle Bernhardt & Natalia Rigol: non-resident tutors in Quincy House; Ph.D. student in economics (Arielle); assistant professor at Harvard Business School (Natalia).

Concentration Advising

  • Meredith Dost: resident tutor, Quincy House and Ph.D. candidate in government and social policy
  • Carla Heelan: assistant director of undergraduate studies in history
  • John Huth: Donner Professor of Science

Faculty Advising

  • Jill Johnson: dance director, Office for the Arts; senior lecturer, Theater, Dance & Media; artistic director, Harvard Dance Project
  • Jon Rogowski: assistant professor in government
  • Ian Wallace: lecturer in human evolutionary biology

Anne Marie E. Sousa, director of advising programs commented: “Good academic advising has the opportunity to facilitate the intellectual transformation that is a critical part of the Harvard College mission. With the Star Prize for Excellence in Advising, we are able to recognize twelve amazing advisers who have given their time, their expertise, and their encouragement to the students at each step of their academic career.”

Congratulations to the 2019 nominees and recipients of the Star Family Prize for Excellence in Advising!

Faculty and Staff who are interested in serving on the Board of First-year Advisers should contact advising@fas.harvard.edu for more information.