Freshman Dean’s Office Announces New Awards for Freshmen

Award season is in full swing at Harvard. In addition to the usual slate of Fulbright and Rhodes scholars, this spring will bring with it a new set of prizes for freshmen, along with a cohort of advising award winners announced Thursday.

Dean of Freshmen and interim Dean of Student Life Thomas A. Dingman ’67 announced the creation of the four new awards in an email on Thursday, inviting first-year students to nominate their classmates for the new prizes. The impetus for these awards came out of a desire to recognize freshmen for their achievements outside of the classroom, Dingman said.

“We have an award each year for the person who’s had across-the-board academic success,” Dingman said, referring to the Jacob Wendell Scholarship Prize, which is awarded based on academic performance during the freshman year. “The more we’ve thought about it, the more we’ve said, why don’t we have a chance to honor those freshmen who demonstrate the values that are near and dear to us?”

The awards include prizes for public service, creativity in the arts, and commitment to community, along with a “Deans’ Award” for the student who “most adheres to the spirit of the freshman deans.”

“The spirit behind this initiative was to make clear the values that are foremost in our minds,” Dingman said. “This is something that the FDO cares enough about to create awards around.”

The FDO will be accepting nominations online through April 22, Dingman said, at which point he and a yet-unnamed panel will judge them. Dingman said he hoped that the winners would be announced before the end of the academic year.

Students are not the only ones to receive awards, however. On Thursday, Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana announced in an email the 12 winners of the Star awards for advising, who will be honored at an expanded award ceremony in May.

The awards recognize freshman and sophomore advisers, along with concentration advisers and faculty members, who offer informal guidance or thesis advising to undergraduates. The Undergraduate Council solicited nominations for these awards from students in February.

Glenn R. Magid, director of the Advising Programs Office, said he was very pleased with this year’s group of advisers.

“I feel perfect about the batch of winners,” Magid said. “I think it’s an extremely distinguished bunch of advisers.”

Magid praised the vetting process that the prize nominees underwent, noting that applications for potential prize winners went before a wide panel of readers.

“It’s a selection process with tremendous integrity that draws on a mix of students, past winners, staff, and resident deans of freshmen,” Magid said. “The people who do the judging are very familiar with this type of advising.”