Teaching and Advising Staff Awarded at Annual Dinner

Eight members of the Harvard community received recognition for their commitment to teaching and mentorship at the annual Teaching and Advising Awards Dinner held Tuesday evening in Kirkland Dining Hall.

Co-hosted by the Undergraduate Council and the Advising Programs Office, the event was filled with emotion as the small group of award recipients was announced from a pool of 133 nominations from undergraduates.

“We worked with the entire UC to publicize the nomination process over house lists,” said UC Education Committee Vice-Chair Florence Y. Chen ’15. “We wanted to get as many nominations as we could for people who inspired students—changing their academic trajectories and changing their lives.”

The John R. Marquand Awards for Exceptional Advising and Counseling of Harvard Students were granted to Kirkland House Tutor Scott Poulson-Bryant, Expository Writing Preceptor Jane Unrue, and Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies in Human Evolutionary Biology Carole K. Hooven.

“Shout-out to the students who nominated their advisors,” said APO Program Manager Brooks B. Lambert-Sluder ’05. “It’s one thing to appreciate what advisors have done for you, and another thing entirely to sit down and take the time to share those stories with others.”

Peer Advising Fellow Megan B. Prasad ’15, a Crimson magazine writer, was nominated for an award by six students, several of whom named their blocking group TheMeganPrasadFanClub in her honor.

“If the [PAF] Program was designed to provide students with nurturing mentors and to create an awesome and supportive environment, then Megan is definitely one of the reasons why the program is such a massive success,” said James D. Dana ’16, one of Prasad’s mentees.

Theodore D. Lederhausen ’14, the other PAF who was honored with an award, also received multiple nominations.

“One of the students who nominated him said she wanted to become a PAF because of him, and that if one day, she could make a fraction of the impact that he made on her on a freshman, then she would consider herself successful,” said Lambert-Sluder before handing Lederhausen his award.

The Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Prizes for exceptional undergraduate teaching were awarded to Statistics professor David P. Harrington, History and Literature lecturer Suzanne E. Smith, and Mathematics teaching fellow Gabriel Bujokas.

“Sometimes faculty members—advisors in particular—are underappreciated,” said UC Education Committee Chair Darragh Nolan ’15. “It’s nice to show that we care.”